


PRVL Volume 2

by AuthorAlex97 (Sweetie_Curfy)



Series: PRVL [2]
Category: RWBY, Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: Autistic Logan, Dragon Faunus!Roman, Faunus!Patton, Gen, Past Child Abuse, RWBY au, mentions of self harm, mild violence, talk about depression
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-04-30 07:28:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 59,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14491881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweetie_Curfy/pseuds/AuthorAlex97
Summary: The second semester at Beacon Academy is starting. Team PRVL is back. With the Vytal Festival happening, there's already plenty to look forward to- new exchange students arriving from around Remnant, the ball, and the tournament at the end of the year -but when someone from the past decides it's time to take action, their semester is going to be more exciting than any of them had been expecting.





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome back, or if you're here for the first time, hello and welcome to Beacon!
> 
> Music to accompany this chapter- the PRVL Vol 2 Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc4Jf5x0FqU&feature=youtu.be  
> Behind the Scenes: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/173418717263/prvl-v2c1-arrival-behind-the-scenes

The airship was quiet as the late morning sunlight streamed in through the windows. Few sat at the benches placed near the glass, and those who did mostly kept their thoughts to themselves. Many of their gazes looked over the City of Vale as it passed underneath them; some looked at the clouds around.

Soft footsteps approached. Roman didn’t bother to look up from his scroll.

“Are you serious?”

Rolling his eyes, he turned to face the shock of red hair glaring down at him. “What, am I not allowed to text my friends?”

Trix raised an eyebrow and snatched the scroll out of his hands, ignoring his cries of disapproval and flopping on the bench next to him as she started looking through the messages. “Roman, you’re literally going to see him in probably less than an hour. Can’t you talk to me and Anole for five minutes?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot you don’t understand what it’s like to have friends off of your team,” he huffed.

She threw her hands in the air. “I have plenty of friends!”

Humming, Roman leaned back and slid on a pair of sunglasses. “Funny, I can’t remember you ever talking about them…”

“Just because I don’t talk about them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Thought you would know that, since you never talk about having good fighting skills,” she retorted. Glancing up, she made a face. “And take those off, you look stupid.”

Roman gasped. “Excuse me?! These are in the style of _Remy Anholts!_ Are you saying one of the very flesh and blood of Team BYRD has poor fashion choices?!”

Scoffing, Trix rolled her eyes. “I am _not._ He’s Duri’s stepson, not her ‘flesh and blood,’ remember? Or is your knowledge of your favorite team of Huntresses like those fighting skills?”

“I know plenty about Team BYRD!”

“Oh? Her name’s Yalona, right?”

“That was _one mistake!_ ”

A groan echoed out behind him. “I wonder how quiet airships get when there _isn’t_ a Reptilia on board?”

Roman and Trix shifted to either side of the bench as he shot a glare. “I don’t know, we’ll have to wait until Trix is gone to find out.”

Anole huffed and sat, putting his arms behind his head. “Well, only one more semester…”

Trix shoved Roman’s scroll in his face before he could shut his eyes. “Look who Little Drake was messaging while we were gone!”

“ _No!_ Don’t show _him_ that!”

Blinking, Anole reached up and gently pulled the scroll a little bit further away from his face; as he read, his brow furrowed deeper and deeper until he finally shot a dirty look at his brother.

“Seriously?! You two were messaging the entire break! Can’t you talk to me and Trix for five minutes?!”

“That’s what I said!”

Roman huffed. “Well, I’m sorry that I found someone charming enough to keep my attention better than you two can!”

Anole let out a growl and leaned back, crossing his arms. “Gods, I’m gonna lose my mind if you guys don’t cut it out. And take off those sunglasses, you look stupid.”

Trix laughed; Roman growled.

The airship shifted, and the three paused, simultaneously turning to glance out the window. A grin formed on Roman’s face as he snatched his scroll back and got to his feet.

“Come along! We mustn’t delay any longer our arrival at dear old Beacon Academy!” he exclaimed.

“We will literally all be getting there at the exact same time,” Trix huffed.

Anole nodded. “Yeah, that’s not exactly up to us.”

Letting out a groan, Roman grabbed their wrists and pulled them to their feet, dragging them towards the exit.

“You two are no fun.”

“Guilty.”

Anole tugged himself out of Roman’s grasp and slowed to a stop before raising an eyebrow at the small group of people waiting by the doors. “I thought you said Patton was staying on campus over break…”

Frowning, Roman turned to him. “I did, he and Virgil both… why?”

“Then why’s he on _this_ airship?”

Anole pointed, and Roman whirled around, searching until the glasses came into view. A laugh tumbled out of him before he could stop it.

“Don’t be ridiculous. That’s Logan, not Patton.”

Trix snorted. “Maybe you need to get your eyes checked, Little Hatchling. Just because they both have glasses doesn’t mean they have the same—”

“Wait, _Logan!”_

There was a blast of wind, and Roman was gone, leaving Trix and Anole behind as he plowed into his teammate. Logan yelped, trying to squirm out of his grip, but Roman held tight. When he squealed, Logan froze for a split second before letting out a loud groan.

“Roman, stop!”

“But I missed you…!”

“You can express your affections without overly passionate hugs!”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

“Need I remind you, I do not like being touched…”

Blinking his eyes open, Roman jumped back, sunglasses clattering to the floor in the movement. “Gods, I’m so sorry! I completely forgot,” he rushed. “Are you alright?”

Logan stuck his hand through the collar of his Beacon Uniform and rubbed his shoulder. “Yes, you just… startled me, I suppose. I was afraid for a moment that you were coming to attack me.”

The doors to the airship opened. While Logan’s hand shot up to cover his eyes from the sunlight, Roman crouched and grabbed his sunglasses. He stood and grinned at his teammate, peering over the lenses.

“Bet Patton and Virgil missed us,” he laughed.

Logan squinted at him as they stepped outside. “There’s no doubt in that, considering Patton appeared ready to cry every time we spoke…”

Frowning, Roman gestured to his face. “What’s that look for?” he asked. “Is it really _that_ bright for you?”

“For me, yes,” Logan responded, lifting his glasses long enough to rub at this eyes. “I would imagine it would be painful for you, as well, if you didn’t have your sunglasses.”

He beamed. “Oh, you mean my new Remy Anholts aviators that my brother purchased as a gift for me on his last mission before he stopped in Vale to save our sorry butts last semester?”

“…What?”

Roman paused to pose, ignoring Logan’s stare. “Torius told me they’re quite popular over in Vacuo!” he exclaimed. “For obvious reason, of course. Remy Anholts has absolutely the most inspiring sense of fashion in all the land! He may study in Mistral, but his influence reaches across continents!”

Logan shook his head, adjusting his glasses as they continued down the sidewalk. “I just… Don’t understand,” he responded. “They’re just sunglasses. It makes sense that they would be widely used in a kingdom placed in a desert, but I believe Vale has enough partially cloudy days to almost be unnecessary. Why would your brother choose those to give you over anything else?”

“Well, knowing Torius, he probably chose them more because they’re Remy’s brand, not because I need them,” Roman pointed out, taking the glasses off of his face to inspect them.

“What purpose does that serve?”

“Because I look up to him, of course!” he laughed. “Surely you have a favorite pair of sunglasses, don’t you? I would imagine you own several.”

Frowning, Logan raised an eyebrow. “I don’t own _any_ , actually… Why would you look up to Remy Anholts? He’s shorter than either of us.”

“No, I mean I admire him.”

Logan blinked several times, staring at Roman in silence. They slowed to a stop. Roman frowned and shifted his weight onto one leg.

“What?”

“Why in the world would you admire _Remy_ , of all people?” he spat. “He’s an obnoxious, self-centered, arrogant child who is far less experienced than us. What is there to praise?”

Roman raised his hands. “Alright, Professor Sass-pin, calm down! He’s not anymore a child than you and I, when you really think about it; he’s only the same age as Ruby, and you’ve seen how experienced _she_ is! She’s not even the step-child of someone amazing like Team BYRD!”

“How do you know? Do you know her parents?”

“I’ve met her and Yang’s father a few times, yes, and while he’s quite a respectable Huntsman, he’s not Duri Uju. Remy probably has more experience than the two of us combined, if his stepmother has been training him his entire life.”

Face falling stoic, Logan opened his mouth, only for Roman to hold up his hand and silence him; he raised his left hand and slightly cupped it, holding it a few inches away from his face before drawing it in behind his ear. Logan raised an eyebrow at him.

“What does that mean?”

“Listen.”

They fell quiet. Logan strained his ears, but could hear nothing of importance above the footsteps of those walking by and the chatter they spoke.

And then there were two sets of stomping feet rushing towards them, and it clicked. He raised his eyebrows in understanding while Roman broke into a grin.

“Ah.”

“…rolorolo _rolorolo **roloroloROLOROLO—!**_ **”**

A weight plowed into the two simultaneously. Logan attempted to keep them on their feet, but Roman readily allowed being shoved whatever way, vastly overpowering him. The three crashed into the ground with yelling and laughter.

“Patton!”

“ImissedyousomuchohmygoshyouhavenoideaI’msogladwe’reacompletefamilyagainI’msohappytoseeyou—”

“We missed you too, Padre, but please! You’re crushing us!”

Patton gasped and started to sit up. “I’m so sorry, I was just really— _Oof!_ ”

“Agh— _Virgil!_ ”

The new weight on top of them shook as he chuckled. “What, Patton gets all the fun in messing with you two upon arrival and I’m not allowed? Fat chance of that.”

Logan groaned and dropped his head to the ground. “Why is it that each reunion our team has has to make a scene?”

The smug grin from Virgil that had been peering down on him disappeared in an instant; he looked up and around at the other students staring at them as they passed. His face reddened immensely before he scrambled off of the pile, grabbing Patton under the arms and scooping him to his feet as he went. Logan and Roman climbed up a beat later.

“Well, we certainly can’t say we don’t have a team bond,” Roman laughed as he stretched.

Logan ducked to avoid his wings and rolled his eyes. “That was a double negative.”

“ _You’re_ a double negative.”

Squealing, Patton bounced and flapped his hands. “I can’t believe you two are back already! Man, these last two weeks really flew by!”

“Well, I’m sure it did for you two,” Roman replied. “Partying it up with the professors every night and shopping your days away in Vale…”

Virgil let out a groan. “There was only _one_ party, Roman. Aren’t you ever gonna drop that?”

“Ha! Not a chance! At least, not until you two tell me what cartoon absurdities Dr. Picani got up to…”

“Have you two eaten yet?” Logan asked.

“No, we were actually on our way to the dining hall when we saw you!” Patton exclaimed. “Have you?”

“Not since I left this morning,” Roman replied.

Logan shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck. “I haven’t since yesterday. I severely underestimated how much I stim by chewing when under the stress of traveling, and consumed all of the energy bars I packed within the first few hours…”

Virgil turned on his heel and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Then I guess we need to get you some food ASAP. With how busy it is now, I’d be surprised if there was any food left by the time we get there.”

The other three followed him towards the dining hall, but not before Patton wrapped his left arm around Roman’s shoulder and looped his right elbow around Logan’s.

* * *

Patton dipped his chicken nugget in mashed potatoes and shoved it in his mouth. “So, what did you two do when we weren’t talking?” he asked through it.

“Patton, don’t talk with your mouth full,” Logan sighed.

“Sorry.”

Pushing a stray hair back, Roman raised his eyebrows at him. “Well, what did you think we were doing? Logan most likely studied like there’s no tomorrow, and my siblings were challenging me to a fight every time they caught me out of mine and Torius’s room.”

Virgil shot him a look. “How do you know that was what Logan was doing? Were you home with him?”

“Obviously not, but it’s _Logan._ ”

Patton poked Roman’s tray towards him. “Let him speak for himself, kiddo. What did you do, Lo?”

He rolled his eyes and shoved his fork into his watermelon. “Patton, do I look like the sort of person who would waste my break on anything outside of studying?” he asked.

An apple flew behind Virgil’s head as he let out a laugh. “I don’t know, do those sort of people use forks to eat watermelon?”

“I do not like getting the juices on my hands.”

“Oh, come on, you two _had_ to have done something else outside of studying and fighting,” Patton said. “Like, Virgil and I did a lot of stuff! We went to that party with the staff and other students staying on campus, I got to talk to Virgil’s parents at the CCT… Oh! And—And there was this really funny thing that happened! We were on our way to—”

“Nope! Nope, nope, nope, we are _not_ talking about that!” Virgil yelled.

“Aw, but it’s funny!”

Roman raised an eyebrow. “Something embarrass you, Virge?”

Face reddening, Virgil glowered at him and growled. “Nothing. Happened.”

“That seems to be a lie,” Logan pointed out.

Virgil huffed and buried his face in his arms; Roman smirked and opened his mouth to say something, but his scroll buzzed against the table, and he snatched it up quicker than any of the other three had ever seen him move. When he started to grin like an idiot, Virgil snorted.

“S’that your boyfriend?”

Roman stiffened and stammered. “N-No! What, can’t a man talk to someone without there being romantic implications?”

“Maybe a man can, but you can’t,” Virgil retorted.

“Not funny.”

Shifting in his seat, Patton ducked under a flying baguette and sent Roman a smile. “ _Did_ you make a new friend over break?”

A gentle grin formed on Roman’s lips, and he softly looked down at the screen of his scroll. “Well… if you _must_ know, I may have acquired the number of a certain teammate of my older brother’s…”

A teacup bounced off of the table. “Of Anole’s team?” Logan asked. “That would mean it’s either Bora, Marjani, or Riad…”

“Two girls and a boy. I wonder who it is,” Virgil said.

“It could be any of them! What’s with that tone?”

“You’re obviously flirting with whoever you’re messaging, and you’ve definitely made it clear that you’d never do that with a girl!”

“How do you know? If Bora and Marjani weren’t together, what makes you think I wouldn’t flirt with them?!”

“Because you never shut up about how gay you are!”

Roman opened his mouth to yell back, but an apple whacked the back of his head, earning a yelp before words. “Alright, well, even if I was flirting with Riad—which I’m _not_ –what does that matter to you? Are you bothered by it? Jealous?”

Scrunching his nose, Virgil shook his head. “Gross, dude, no! I don’t want anything to do with that romance stuff! I’m the biggest aromantic you’ll ever gonna meet!”

“You’re aromantic?”

“As hell.”

“Language!”

A turkey leg flew past Logan’s face, just barely avoiding his nose, and he let out a frustrated groan. “Could we possibly continue this conversation somewhere where there _isn’t_ food flying in every direction?”

Roman shoved his scroll in his pocket and huffed. “Honestly, what _children_ are starting a food fight?”

“Dude, we’re kids, too.”

“Hardly!”

Patton pointed past them to where Yang was jumping off a table to launch a sandwich at the dark haired boy next to Pyrrha. “Looks like it’s RWBY and JNPR!”

“What?!” Roman whipped around, climbing to his feet. “Yang! I thought she was better than this! Ugh, Ruby must be corrupting her…”

“It is usually the youngest,” Virgil laughed.

Roman turned to shoot a glare at him, but a plate of mashed potatoes smashed directly into Logan’s face before any damage could be done. As the ceramic clattered to the wood, he let out a terrifyingly calm sigh and pulled his glasses away from his face.

“I think it’s time to leave,” he stated.

Watching Yang fling the blonde boy across the cafeteria while his orange haired teammate starting yelling and moving tables, Virgil nodded and stood. “Yeah, I think I agree with you on that.”

Patton jumped up and picked up his plate. “I think we should join!”

“And I think you’ll ruin your clothes,” Roman pointed out, handing Logan a stack of napkins. He took Patton’s elbow and started towards the exit. “It’s time to head back to the dorm.”

* * *

“…And I got a new Achieve Men Poster!” Patton exclaimed as they turned the corner to the sidewalk that lead to their dorm building. “It’s the first one they released after Ghost Ray left! Lil J’s right in the middle!”

“Sounds brilliant,” Roman replied.

Logan frowned. “How long ago was it that Ray left? It seems like it was years ago…”

Patton gasped, spinning to walk backwards and look at him. “You’re a fan of Achieve Men?!”

“No, but it’s practically impossible to never have heard of them,” Logan stated. “They were one of the biggest boy bands of our generation until they broke up.”

“They didn’t break up. They’re on hiatus.”

“Whatever.”

“Ghost Ray left… Oh, what, two years ago, now?” Roman asked.

Nodding, Patton looked towards their window. “Two years ago last month. This is the first poster I’ve gotten since then. I’m kind of surprised I found this, to be honest.”

Virgil let out a sigh. “It was literally the only thing we listened to after he found it,” he huffed. “I can’t get that stupid _Terror Eyes_ out of my head…”

“Aw, but you can’t deny we had fun dancing to it when we were baking!”

“So you did end up baking,” Logan stated.

Patton hummed, a grin stretching across his face. “Tons! Cakes, brownies, cookies…”

“ _Gods_ , there are _so_ many cookies,” Virgil groaned.

Patton laughed and beamed at Logan and Roman. “You two can have as many as you want! There are plenty to go around!”

“While I appreciate the offer, Patton, I doubt I’ll be eating more than two or three,” Logan stated. “As delicious as I can imagine them to be, too many can be unhealthy, and as training Huntsmen, we need to stay in shape and consume the right nutrients and calories.”

Rolling his eyes, Roman let his shoulders drop. “Ugh, Lo, you’re so boring! Patton, I assure you, I will eat as many as you allow me to. Your baking is absolutely— _Oof!”_

A foot smashed into Roman’s back, cutting off the words in his mouth as he crashed into the ground; Trix hit the sidewalk and rolled, jumping to her feet and grinning at the four.

“Match!”

Roman let out a loud groan. “Not _now!_ Are you kidding me?!”

“Are you… asking us to spar with you?” Logan asked. “Right now?”

She beamed. “Sure am!”

“That’s preposterous; none of us have weapons, and we’re all in uniform.”

“Not to mention it’s four on one,” Virgil pointed out. “You might be a fourth year, but we still have the advantage…”

Her eyebrow quirked. “Who said four on one?”

An arrow shot into the sidewalk, and there was an explosion of electricity; while the other three leapt back, Roman launched himself into the sky. He watched as Anole dropped off of the wall of their dorm building. Another figure leapt off of the roof and into the tree next to their window. Letting out a growl, he conjured a bright, glowing lasso and threw the end of it into the branches.

There was a yelp, and the rope tugged; Roman yanked it out. His eyes bugged as his face heated.

“Riad?!”

The man craned his neck to look up at him, grinning as he dangled by his ankle. “Hey, Ro.”

“What are you doing?!” Roman shrieked.

An arrow shot through the rope, and Riad crashed into the ground next to his teammate. “Anole wanted me to join!”

“I suppose that would make sense,” Logan commented.

Roman scowled at Anole and shot down, tackling him into the sidewalk; his bow flew out of his hands, but he got his feet under Roman’s stomach and shoved him off. Anole did a backwards somersault to get back onto his feet while Roman skidded towards his teammates.

Patton helped Roman up before frowning at the older three. “Isn’t it kind of unfair that Anole has his weapon and no one else does?”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Trix said.

Holding up his hands, Anole stared at her. “I thought it would help! We’re outnumbered!”

“By first years! And who cares? We’re not here to kick their butts, we’re here because Roman didn’t get enough sparring over break!”

“Yeah, right!” Virgil hollered. “Like any of us are supposed to believe that!”

Trix glared and started to sprint towards them. “Looks like you’re first!”

She leapt and flipped, swinging her leg down at Virgil’s head, but he threw up his arms to block it; she adjusted herself so that her heels were on his forearms before she jumped back, sending Virgil to the ground. Roman shot forward and scooped her up under her arms and took them into the sky. She twisted and shoved her foot into his chest, kicking him back while she plummeted towards the ground. Just as she was about to hit the sidewalk, she flipped and landed on her knees.

Anole dove over her, shoving his hands against the concrete and flipping to send his feet flying towards Logan; he ducked just in time and grabbed his legs. As he threw Anole towards the ground, the other threw out his hands and kicked, sending Logan into the air instead. He leapt above him and punched him in the back. Logan let out a yelp as he fell to the ground, but used the little bounce that came with the impact to somersault back to his feet. Anole landed and grinned, eyebrows raising at him.

“You’re pretty good!”

Riad’s eyes flitted around the courtyard, watching as Virgil charged at Trix and Logan ran towards Anole; his eyes fell onto Patton, who was just standing and watching, fiddling with the cloak around his throat. A grin spread onto his lips as he started to sprint over.

Before he could get very far, Roman crashed into his side, sending them both rolling across the sidewalk. When they stopped, Riad blinked his eyes open to see Roman pinning him. He smirked.

“Well, this is a new way to say hello,” he laughed.

Roman’s face turned scarlet, and he spluttered, giving Riad just the time to wrench his arms out of his grip and shove him away. He scrambled to his feet and charged towards Patton, but Roman grabbed his arm and threw him in the opposite direction. Riad tumbled and rolled to his feet. He charged again, and Roman flew into the air, swinging his legs out to kick Riad back, but he ducked and slid across the ground a few feet. He somersaulted to his feet and charged at Patton.

Just as he got near, Patton turned and gasped, dodging his punch just in time. He stumbled back as punch after punch was thrown at him, until he bent just a bit too far backwards and hit the ground. Patton swung his leg out to knock Riad’s out from under him; as he jumped to his feet, Riad leaned back on his hands and landed a kick directly to Patton’s chin, who let out a yelp as he bit down on his tongue.

Trix winced as she heard Patton’s cry, but had little time to dwell as Virgil swung his leg at her head. She ducked underneath and drove two punches into his stomach; he gasped and stumbled, clutching his abdomen. Using this to her advantage, she leapt and kicked him in the chest, sending him to the sidewalk. He rolled, but did his best to push himself back to his feet regardless.

Logan threw a punch at Anole, who grabbed his wrist and used it to twist Logan around; ignoring the pain, he leaned forward and somersaulted, sending Anole to the ground while he remained on his feet. He spun and sent his heel towards his face, but Anole threw up an arm to block it. Logan used that force to jump and kick with his other foot, which crashed right into his nose. He yelped and rolled over to push himself up.

Riad charged at Patton, fist drawn back, but a blur of black and red flew into his field of vision, and he spun to throw the punch into Roman’s chest. He let out a choking sound, but remained upright enough to grab his arm and lift them into the air. Riad twisted until he was free, shutting his eyes in focus as he fell.

The ground trembled when his feet hit the pavement.

Everyone stumbled and stopped what they were doing to turn to the source of the mini-earthquake; Roman let out a stunned breath from his safe place in the air. A grin broke onto his face as they all regained their balance.

“A complementary semblance,” he breathed.

Logan adjusted his glasses and squinted. “He can make earthquakes,” he stated. “That’s interesting.”

Cheering, Anole punched the air. “Hell yeah! That’s our World Rocker!”

Riad beamed and lunged forward to grab Patton by the arm. He spun him around and threw him as hard as he could…

…Right into a passing student.

Patton heard gasps and curses as he and the stranger crashed into the ground with a heavy _thud_ , grunts being forced out of both of them. Lungs burning from the wind being knocked out of him, he squeezed his eyes shut and swallowed thickly. When he heard the stranger groan, he gasped and scrambled off of him.

“I’m so sorry!” he exclaimed. “I didn’t mean to… um…”

Patton’s voice left him.

The boy sat up, running his fingers through long, cinnabar hair as he rubbed his head. A soft grimace rested on his features for a moment, but he let out a sigh as his face relaxed. He blinked honey brown eyes open that gradually drifted up to meet the ones in front of him.

As soon as they made eye contact, Patton felt his insides twist, and his eyes darted away to look at his light gray blazer. It felt like every part of him was screaming to look back up, to memorize this boy’s face and never look away, while simultaneously using all of its might to do the exact opposite. He felt… something, something intense that he couldn’t quite figure out a name for. Intimidation? Fear? Exhilaration?

Footsteps rushed up behind him before he had much of a chance to dwell on this new emotion. A pair of hands landed on his shoulders, the owner kneeling next to him.

“Are you alright?” Virgil asked.

Patton’s tongue was too heavy to move in his mouth, so he just nodded, keeping his eyes on the stranger. When he got to his feet, Patton turned to study the sloppy bows on his brown tennis shoes.

“That’s why we watch what we’re throwing,” Trix scolded.

Riad laughed nervously. “It was an accident! I’ve learned my lesson! But seriously, dude, I really am sorry. You good?”

The tennis shoes turned the other way. “Fine.”

His voice hit like a punch to the gut, modulated and deep; as he walked away, Patton finally allowed himself to look up. He stared at the cinnabar hair until the boy turned a corner and was out of sight. Patton couldn’t tell if he was relieved or disappointed.

His scroll buzzed in his pocket, snapping him back into reality. Dread replaced any and all emotions that had been swirling in his gut; swallowing thickly, he put a hand over the fabric and got to his feet. He plastered a grin on his face as he looked at the others.

“Well, that was fun!” he exclaimed. “We should do that again sometime!”

Roman rolled his eyes. “Oh, I’m sure we’ll have the opportunity to have _plenty_ of spontaneous sparring matches…”

Shrugging, Trix held up her hands. “Hey, Grimm don’t give you any heads up in the field,” she pointed out. “You gotta be prepared at all times.”

“But we’re not in the field. We’re in school,” Logan said. “The chances of there being a Grimm attack while on campus are incredibly low, plus we’re surrounded by either professional Hunters or Hunters in training. You’d be a fool to even _think_ about attacking Beacon.”

There was a moment of comfortable silence. Patton watched as Virgil climbed back to his feet, and then as Roman and Riad made eye contact.

“So, how did Anole rope you into becoming a part of this fight?” Roman asked. “I had been hoping to greet you in a much calmer fashion.”

Snorting, Riad put his hands behind his head. “Oh, Ro, we’ve been planning this for days! It was a good excuse to see you in action, instead of, you know… kidnapped.”

Roman froze for a split second, eyes widening, but they formed a daggering glare before anyone could ask. “Anole!”

“Wha—Why are you blaming _me?!_ Trix was the one to come up with this stupid idea!” Anole shrieked.

“Like you had no hand in it!” Trix shot back.

“You were the one to talk Riad into it!” Roman yelled.

Riad lowered his hands, keeping them in front of his chest. “I offered,” he informed. “I thought it would be a memorable way to say hi.”

Face reddening, Roman paused. “O-Oh.”

“Yeah,” he laughed. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

Anole huffed.

Another beat of silence surrounded the seven; Logan eventually cleared his throat and reached up to adjust his glasses.

“Well. As entertaining as this was,” he began, “I think it’s time to head back to our dorm. Trix, Anole, Riad, it was nice seeing you three again.”

Virgil hummed. “Yeah, maybe next time, we can fight in the sparring gym. Y’know, where we _don’t_ have to worry about hitting random pedestrians, like normal students.”

Scoffing, Trix waved her hand and turned to head off. “Boring. See you kids later.”

“We’re not kids!” Roman hollered.

“Maybe we aren’t, but you sure are,” Anole said.

Roman shot him a glare, but Riad laughed, wiping it right off his face.

“Being an adult isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, you know,” Riad said. “Maybe we should all just let ourselves be kids for a little while longer before we’re forced out of it.”

Patton grinned and bounced. “That’s a great idea!” he exclaimed. “Do you guys want some cookies? We have plenty in our dorm, and I think we all earned a few today!”

Riad opened his mouth to respond, but Anole took him by the arm and pulled him back a couple of steps. “Thanks, Pat, but I’ve had more than enough of watching… _whatever_ it is Roman and Riad are doing. Maybe another day.”

As Anole dragged his teammate away, Riad shot a beaming smile back to Roman and waved.

“Bye, guys! Message me, Ro!”

“Cut it out, it’s weird!”

Riad laughed, and his next words were lost to the distance. A soft smile remained glued to Roman’s face as he watched them walk away.

“That seemed pretty gay,” Virgil said.

The smile dropped in favor of a glare. “First of all, it wasn’t. We were not flirting. Second, would there have been a problem if it _was_?”

He snorted. “Not a problem at all. But you were definitely flirting.”

“And what makes you say that?!”

“You denied it before I suggested it.”

Roman’s face reddened, and he spluttered gracelessly for a moment; once he fell silent, he let out a huff and stormed towards the main entrance of their dorm building. Logan rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“So dramatic,” he sighed.

He turned and headed in the same direction.

Patton moved to follow, but Virgil gently took his arm and held him in place. When he tilted his head in confusion, Virgil gestured to his pocket.

“I heard it buzz,” he softly stated.

A lump formed in Patton’s throat. He swallowed thickly and turned away, lifting his hand to rub at his cloak’s collar.

“…I’m sure it’s just… one of their messages coming in late, or something,” he lied. “You know how bad signal is here.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Patton, we’re literally right next to the CCT. There’s no way we have bad signal. Besides, if that was the case, I would have gotten it, too.”

Patton’s shoulders drooped. Letting out a sigh, Virgil reached up and put a hand on his shoulder.

“You don’t have to read it,” he gently reminded.

Patton released a shaky breath and tilted his head towards the ground. “I don’t want him to get mad,” he whimpered.

“He’s going to be mad either way.”

They stood in silence for a moment, while Virgil rubbed small circles with his thumb and Patton swallowed lump after lump away. Finally, he took a deep breath and pulled out his scroll. He stepped closer to Virgil as he flicked it open.

_New Message: Dad_

_Stop ignoring us._

Tears welled up, but Patton squeezed his eyes shut before any could escape. Virgil’s arm wrapped around his shoulder as he felt his scroll being gently pulled out of his hands.

“Don’t think about it,” he muttered. “Logan and Roman are back, for better or worse. Let’s just… forget about your scroll for one day so we can focus on our family being back, alright?”

Patton blinked his eyes open and took a deep breath. “Alright.”

Virgil gave a gentle squeeze, offering him a soft smile before tugging him towards the entrance. “Let’s go get some cookies. You’ve earned a few, too, you know.”

Letting out a weak laugh, Patton nodded and followed along.

“Let’s just try to avoid any more fights.”


	2. Twists and Turns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of classes is over, and there are some conflicting ideas on what to do with the afternoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warnings: mentions of alcohol, arguing, fighting
> 
> Behind the Scenes: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/173642755768/prvl-v2c2-twists-and-turns-behind-the-scenes

_Knock, knock, knock._

“The door is open. I can see you. You don’t need to knock on the frame to get my attention.”

“Laleh said you needed me.”

“I do.”

“For?”

“Well… You’re going on a little trip.”

“Okay?”

“Someone saw her son again. I want you to go get him. Top priority, no need to get involved in any of that… personal stuff, alright?”

“Give me the location.”

“Hm. Pack your bags, ma’am. You’re going to Beacon.”

* * *

“So! With that in mind, we are going to do our best to pick up where we left off last semester. I know it’s been a whole two weeks, so I’ll go a little easy on you for now, but know that I will be raising my expectations as the semester continues.”

Leaning back against his desk, Dr. Picani used his pen to push his glasses further up his nose, the bright orange plastic blending in unnaturally well due to the lights being as bright as they could possibly be. Patton heard Logan let out a huff and watched from his peripheral vision as he lifted his glasses and rubbed at his eyes.

“Now, you all should have received a letter at home stating that you needed to purchase the second volume of _the Psychology of Remnant_ , third edition,” Picani continued. “If you don’t have it yet, it’s no big deal; just try to purchase it as soon as you can. I know it’s early, but I would like to get started soon, so if you could all read Chapter One by Wednesday afternoon, that would be great.”

Biting down on his lip, Patton turned to look at Virgil; before anyone could give an answer, the bell rang, and he winced as he felt the vibrating of his eardrums. The lecture hall echoed with shuffling and soft chatter.

Virgil leaned back to look behind Roman, nodding at Patton. “You can borrow my book for this, Dad,” he said. “Maybe we can make it through the semester without you needing your own copy.”

“Maybe,” he sighed.

“Why wouldn’t you purchase your own?” Logan asked. “Are you unable to afford the expenses?”

Patton rubbed the back of his neck. “Well… I suppose you could put it that way…”

Roman climbed to his feet and stretched his arms above his head. “Who cares? So long as he gets the work done, what does it matter if he gets it from Virgil’s book or his own?”

“The book isn’t the problem here, genius,” Virgil pointed out.

Rolling his eyes, Roman flapped his wings to cross to the other side of him, landing on the stairs and waiting for his teammates to gather their things. “Patton, if you’re in need of financial assistance, I’m sure we can find a way to send some Lien to your card,” he said. “And if that’s still not enough, you can just ask your parents for a few bucks, can’t you? I’m sure if it’s for your education, they won’t have a problem with it, even if you’re not on the best of terms.”

Virgil shot him a glare and opened his mouth, but Patton placed his hands on his shoulders and jumped onto his back before he could say anything. They nearly tumbled down the stairs, but Logan and Roman both grabbed them before they could fall.

“That’s alright, kiddo,” Patton replied as if nothing had happened. “You don’t need to give me your Lien. Like you said, as long as I get the work done, who cares if I have my own copy of the book? Everything’s gonna be a-okay, promise!”

“Well… If you’re sure…”

Logan lead the four up the stairs and out of the lecture hall, shaking his head. “I think you should take up the offer. It is vital to have your own book so you can highlight all of the important material and make any necessary notes. With you and Virgil sharing a copy, that would be impossible. At the very least, I have plenty of left over expenses to purchase you one. If you won’t allow us to give you the Lien, at least allow me to use mine to buy the book for you.”

“Ugh, it’s always studying and scholars with you, isn’t it?” Roman groaned. “Look, if Patton doesn’t want our help, we can’t force it on him.”

“Funny, weren’t you the one to force him into a sparring match just a few weeks ago?”

“I didn’t _force_ him, I persuaded him. And speaking of, what say we have one of those right now? I’m sure there won’t be many students sparring on the first day of classes, so it’s the perfect time!”

Shaking his head, Logan rubbed at his temples. “See? How can you be so judgemental about my dedication to studies when you’re utterly obsessed with fighting? This is the third time you’ve asked to spar since we arrived, and we’ve only been here for twenty-nine hours!”

“Oh, an average of once every nine and a half hours, how obsessive of me,” he retorted.

Patton sighed and buried the lower half of his face in Virgil’s shoulder as the two began to bicker. Glancing back at him, Virgil shook his head.

“There’s just no end to it today, is there?” he whispered.

He hummed. “Yeah… As much as I missed them, I didn’t miss this all that much…”

“I just don’t understand how you can spend the entire break studying until your brains melted and _still_ want to spend every waking moment at the library!” Roman exclaimed, pulling the two out of their conversation. “Don’t you ever have any extra energy to expend?”

“Well, I don’t see how _you_ can possibly posses enough energy to spend two whole weeks constantly sparring with your siblings, only to return and nag us into doing the same,” Logan shot back. “I would like to spend our evening in the library.”

“And _I_ would like to spend it in the gym!”

“Y’know, we _could_ do something that’s not entirely related to our studies,” Virgil interrupted.

Logan and Roman stopped to glower at him; he lifted a hand in defense, shaking his head.

“Alright. Got the hint.”

Patton perked up and raised his eyebrows, looking past them all. “What are _those?_ ”

Before anyone could question it, he slid off of Virgil’s back and ran to the window, pressing his hands against the glass as he stared outside. The other three made their way over, and they blinked at the large, unfamiliar airships filling the sky.

“Those… appear to be a part of the Atlesian Air Fleet,” Logan stated.

“From the military?” Patton asked. “I’ve never seen anything like them before! This is so cool!”

Virgil frowned. “Why the heck are they _here?_ Is something going on?”

“Well… That boy Patton ran into yesterday _was_ wearing an Atlas Academy uniform,” Roman pointed out. “Maybe they’re here for the Vytal Festival?”

“I believe the headmaster of Atlas Academy is under the false impression that we are in need some extra protection,” a voice stated behind them. “There’s nothing to fear.”

Team PRVL turned away from the window. “Good afternoon, Professor Oobleck,” Logan said.

“Doctor,” he lowly corrected, adjusting the strap of his laptop bag. “Good afternoon to you four as well. I trust you’re feeling better, Virgil?”

His face turned a brilliant shade of red before he turned it away. “Uh… Y-Yeah. Thanks.”

“Feeling better…?” Roman mumbled.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it,” Virgil snapped.

Logan glanced back out the window and back to Dr. Oobleck. “You said the headmaster of Atlas was worried about the security of the festival,” he said. “Is there something occurring in Solitas that we should be worried about?”

“Nothing that you can’t also fret over in Sanus. Travel between kingdoms may be becoming increasingly difficult, but I have to disagree with General Ironwood’s fears,” Oobleck replied.

Patton frowned. “I thought we were talking about the headmaster of Atlas?”

“We are,” Roman said.

“The military and education systems are combined in the Kingdom of Atlas,” Logan explained. “General Ironwood leads both the army and the school.”

“Oh.”

Dr. Oobleck nodded, and then he looked at Patton. “If you don’t mind, Mr. Passio, I believe Dr. Picani was searching for you. It appears he wishes to speak with you in private for a moment.”

His eyes widened, hands chilling; before he could start to panic, Dr. Oobleck held up his hand and closed his eyes.

“You’re not in trouble. There is simply a small matter he needed to address. He should still be in the classroom,” he reassured. “I hope you all have a good afternoon. Mr. Passio, Mr. Reptilia, I will see you two in class tomorrow. Good day.”

Before anyone could say anything else, Dr. Oobleck zipped down the hall and out of sight. Patton swallowed thickly and cast his teammates one last look before heading back to the lecture hall.

* * *

The afternoon sunlight shone down on the campus, casting Team STER in the light as they walked down the sidewalk towards the dorms. They all remained silent as a mix of emotions swirled around them all. Their eyes trailed across the buildings, memories of the years past fueling the fire.

Finally, Trix stretched and put her hands behind her head. “So, uh… Last first day of school, huh?”

Rakesh hummed and nodded. “We’re almost done.”

“Can’t wait to never have to write an essay again,” Stella laughed.

Eve wrapped their arms around themselves, letting out a soft sigh. “I can’t believe how fast it all went…”

“Well… At least we’ll have a little extra time compared to most,” Trix said. “Torius told me he would have _killed_ to have the chance to come back and participate in the Vytal Festival Tournament after his team graduated. We get to have that, at least.”

“Assuming we qualify,” Rakesh added.

She scoffed. “Please, how could we not?”

“Yo, Trix!”

“Oh, Gods,” she groaned.

“Trix, wait up!”

Stella let out a giggle. “Looks like your girlfriend is back…”

Trix shot her a look. “Keahi is _not_ my girlfriend.”

An arm slung around her shoulder, and she stumbled as she was slightly pulled down. “Hey, long time, no see!” a voice cheered. “Good to see you again!”

“It certainly has been two years,” Trix deadpanned. She stopped walking to pull out of the shorter girl’s grip, immediately blinking as she took her in. “Whoa… _You_ look different.”

Letting out a laugh, Keahi lifted a hand to play with the messy bun her dark, curly hair was tied in. “Yeah, it’s all sweaters and yoga pants for me these days. Bit of a swap from mini skirts and a face full of makeup. You, though— you haven’t changed a bit!”

“Is that a good or a bad thing?” Eve asked, before Stella shoved her elbow into their ribs to shut them up.

“Well, that’s… that’s great,” Trix replied. “Are the professors at Haven chill with that? I’ve heard they’re real sticklers for dress code.”

Keahi shrugged. “Eh. They don’t care anymore. They all know I won’t listen anyway.”

Raising her eyebrows, Trix tipped her head back. “You… stopped listening to the rules.”

“Oh, yeah!” she giggled. “After the last Vytal Festival Tournament, Iris—my teammate, you remember her, right? –Anyway, she told me I need to loosen up, so I started breaking the rules. I’m at a point where I can even bring alcohol on campus and no one cares!”

“Teach me your ways.”

“Hush, Rakesh.”

Trix nodded, a smile starting to form on her face. “Huh… That’s… Actually really cool,” she said. “You’re gonna be here the whole semester, right? What’s your schedule? Maybe we could study together sometime.”

Keahi’s face lit up, and she pulled her scroll out; Trix did the same, and they scrunched together to compare the charts on their screens. The rest of Team STER watched with smiles forming on their faces.

“What a hopeless pansexual,” Rakesh quietly remarked.

“And to think, she couldn’t get far enough away from her two years ago,” Stella laughed. “I am never gonna let her hear the end of it if they get together.”

Eve hummed. “Hope she doesn’t forget about that fellow nonbinary in our class with Port. Did you see the way they were staring at her?”

“A little creepy, if you ask me.”

“No, what are you talking about? It was adorable!” Stella exclaimed.

He held up his hands. “She never said they were allowed to do that!”

“Okay, but did you see how she was staring back?” Eve pointed out. “I think that’s consent enough.”

Stella shook her head and sighed. “Y’know, after meeting Roman, something tells me being a hopeless romantic is a Reptilia family trait.”

Keahi beamed at Trix one last time before heading off towards the dining hall; Trix watched her go until she turned the corner, at which point she spun around to face her teammates. Seeing all smug looks directed at her, she froze.

“…What?”

* * *

Patton shut the door behind him before beginning to descend the stairs. Forcing himself to take a deep breath, he attempted to will away the slight chill resting in his shaking hands, but nothing seemed to change. He swallowed thickly once he got to the bottom and stood in front of where Dr. Picani was offering a warm smile from behind his desk.

“Um… Is everything okay?” Patton quietly asked.

Dr. Picani nodded. “Everything is fine. You don’t need to worry. How was your break, Patton?”

He blinked, looking away for just a split second. “It was okay, I guess,” he answered. “Virgil and I were here because he decided traveling all the way to Mistral wasn’t going to be worth it if break was only two weeks, and I didn’t want him to stay alone. It was fun, though! I got to finally show him Vale, and we saw you at that party, which was cool!”

Humming, Dr. Picani folded his hands and leaned on his elbows, fists in front of his mouth. “And you remained on campus purely because you didn’t want your teammate to be alone, you said?” he questioned. “There was no other reason to miss out on seeing your family for the first time in months?”

Breath catching in his throat, Patton felt his face and shoulders both fall. He turned his face to look at the floor. Ice crystals started to form on his palms. In the silence, he braced himself for getting yelled at and did his best to repress his emotions as quickly as he could.

“Patton.”

He forced himself to look at the papers on Dr. Picani’s desk.

“There is nothing wrong with you if things aren’t alright at home,” he stated. “Whatever the situation is with your family, you are more than capable of achieving great things. You have so much potential, especially for a student who didn’t even attend a combat school previously! I don’t want to have to see you miss out on some of the big opportunities Beacon has to offer because of something that isn’t your fault.”

Biting down on his lip, Patton forced back frightened tears and nodded. He heard Picani shift and pick something up off of his desk.

“With that in mind,” he continued, “I heard you and your teammates talking after class. I know it wasn’t my conversation to listen to, but I looked around anyway and found a copy of the textbook that was left behind by a student last year—it’s only the second edition, but it should be good enough to get you through the semester.”

The book appeared in front of him; hesitantly, Patton lifted his hands and took it. He looked up at Dr. Picani, who was giving a broad, friendly smile.

Patton took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ll do my best,” he replied. “Thank you so much.”

Dr. Picani nodded back. “I would hope so! And it’s absolutely no problem. I look forward to seeing your work. Oh, and I do hope you know that if you ever need anything, even if it’s just an ear to talk off, my door is always open.” He stood and picked up his bag off of the floor. “Thank you for coming back. That was all I needed you for. Oh! And when you see Logan next, make sure that he doesn’t read too far ahead. We’re only focusing on Chapter One this week, okay? Don’t let him go any further!”

“I won’t. Thank you again, Dr. Picani. See you Wednesday!”

Tucking the book under his arm, Patton turned and headed back up the stairs and into the hall. When he turned to head back to the window where he’d left his teammates, a soft smile etched itself onto his face, and he held the book up to his chest.

His feet hit the sunlight streaming through the window, and he paused. His brow furrowed.

“Where did Logan and Roman go?” he asked.

Virgil looked up from his scroll, rolling his eyes as he climbed to his feet. “Well, since the idiots are too impatient to wait five minutes for a friend, Pocket Protector headed off to the library, while Sir Sing-A-Lot went to the sparring gym.”

“That is not surprising.”

“One track minds, both of them,” Virgil remarked. “What did Picani want?”

Grinning, Patton held up the book for him to see, recounting the meeting as they headed down the hall and towards the exit.

* * *

_Compose message to: Riad <3_

_–Hey! How was your first day of classes?_

_Message from: Riad <3_

_–It was boring, like every other syllabus day haha. Yours?_

_Compose message to: Riad <3_

_–Ugh, same. I keep trying to convince my teammates to have a sparring match with me, but none of them want to!_

_Message from: Riad <3_

_–That sucks lol. You must have boring teammates_

_Compose message to: Riad <3_

_–I do! All Logan wants to do is study, and like??? I would want to, too, probably, if I hadn’t already sp_

A hand collided with the back of Roman’s head; he let out a yelp and scrambled to keep his scroll in his hands and the unfinished message untouched. Growling, he whirled around, only to find the guilty party and the boy he was messaging standing right behind him.

“Shouldn’t be texting and walking, Little Drake,” Anole stated.

“Hi, Roman,” Riad greeted.

Roman stood tall and glared down at his older brother. “I am not a ‘little drake’ anymore. I am a full-grown dragon, thank you very much. And good day to you, Riad, I was just messaging you.”

“Again?” Anole turned and scowled at his teammate. “You’re not encouraging him, are you?”

Riad held up his hands and laughed, making eye contact with Roman. “I don’t know, I kinda like it. I enjoy talking to you.”

The corners of Roman’s lips tugged up as his face warmed. A soft smile pulled onto Riad’s face, too. Roman felt his heart flutter.

“Well, I’m heading to the library, but I’d love to walk with you two wherever you’re going.”

“What a coincidence, that’s where we were going, too. Maybe we can study together.”

Grinning, Roman’s eyes darted away as he rubbed at the back of his neck. “I’d like that.”

A loud groan from Anole echoed through the courtyard. “ _Gross,_ guys, stop flirting! It’s weird!”

“Wh-I— No— We are _not—!”_

Riad rolled his eyes and shoved Anole to his other side, leading the three along on their quest. “I think ‘not flirting’ is what he’s trying to say,” he laughed. “Although, if you’re this suave when you’re not, I can’t imagine how many people fall for you when you are.”

“Nope. Yup. You’re definitely flirting,” Anole huffed.

“Please, how would you know?” Roman shot. “You don’t know the meaning of the word!”

“Well, with you and Trix trying to screw everyone you meet, I’ve learned a few things.”

Face flaming, Roman made very brief eye contact with Riad before snapping his gaze in the opposite direction. “I do _not_ try to screw everyone I meet.”

There was a beat of heavy silence. Riad cleared his throat and let out a whistle.

“So, uh… We saw Logan and Virgil leaving the lecture halls a few minutes ago,” he said. “Guess they stayed a few minutes after everyone else for some reason.”

Roman frowned. “Lo and Virge? Are you sure?”

Riad hummed in agreement, causing Roman to furrow his brow and look to the sky.

“That’s weird… No, that can’t be right. They wouldn’t just leave Patton like that…” He paused. “Wait, are you sure it wasn’t _Patton_ and Virgil?”

“Could’ve been,” Anole said. “I didn’t see any of this. I don’t have any idea what Riad’s talking about.”

“No, it definitely wasn’t Patton. Patton left the lecture halls a couple of minutes before they did,” Riad explained. “He was playing with some sort of cube or something.”

Anole let out a laugh. “ _That_ was definitely Logan! See, Roman? I’m not the only one to get them mixed up!”

“They have the same glasses; how was I supposed to know?”

“That’s what I said!”

Roman’s thoughtful glare fell back to the ground, and he lifted a hand to rub at his upper lip. _Where would that bookworm have been going by himself…?_

* * *

Logan sprinted to the side and dove forward, pressing his hands against the floor to flip back to his feet and launch his book at the training dummy in front of him; as it wrapped around its waist, he yanked the strap as hard as he could, sending it flying to the other side of the field. While it was in the air, he managed to get the book back into his hands and switch it into pistol form before shooting a few rounds into the dummy. It hit the floor with smoke pouring out of the bullet holes.

He panted, and his weapon fell to his side. Four out of the five shots had hit, but there was one, just one…

_Not good enough,_ he thought. _We need to run it again and focus more on our aim._

The doors swung open behind him.

Gasping, Logan whirled around, readying an explanation for why he was here and not at the library; when he saw that the two entering were not, in fact, Roman, he allowed himself to relax.

“Calanthe, Lloyd,” he greeted.

“Logan! What’s up?” Calanthe called.

Glancing down, Logan flipped his weapon back into a book and shrugged. “Just… doing a little training, I suppose,” he replied. “I would assume you’re here for a similar reason.”

“Yeah, we kinda slacked over break,” Lloyd laughed. “I think Nila’s the only one of CTLN who actually did anything these past couple of weeks. She stayed here for break.”

“Hm. So did Patton and Virgil. Did she attend the staff party, as well?”

Simultaneously, the two blinked. “Staff party?”

“Yes. According to Patton and Virgil, it was the first Wednesday night of break,” Logan explained.

“Oh, my gods,” Calanthe giggled, pulling out her scroll. “I’m going to ask her about that right now. We need the details.”

Lloyd stood on his tiptoes to peer at her screen. “You should tell her to tell Thamir that Logan’s here. Maybe that’ll get him to come.”

Logan frowned. “Why would _my_ presence convince him to come to the gym? I wouldn’t mind if he came, of course—we could have two-versus-two matches, in that case –I just don’t understand what makes me so significant over anyone else.”

They stared at him for a long moment before glancing at each other. Through their eyebrows, it appeared they were having a silent conversation, until they finally turned back to Logan and shrugged.

“You’re just… a cool guy,” Lloyd stated.

“Plus he hasn’t seen you since last semester,” Calanthe added. “We think he just really missed everyone, and you’re the only person off of the team that he really talks to.”

“What do you mean? Is there… something wrong?” Logan hesitantly asked.

She lowered her scroll, rubbing the back of her neck. “Uh… Well… We’re not really sure, to be honest…”

“He’s just been acting kind of weird since we got back,” Lloyd informed, his voice quieter than before. “Hardly said a word since he got here, kinda more reserved than before… Really tired, too. He almost didn’t wake up before going to classes today.”

A frown etched onto Logan’s face as nausea settled in his gut. Withdrawal, isolation, fatigue… He knew that, for himself, these things would be pointing to the beginning of an autistic burnout. But Thamir wasn’t autistic, he was bipolar. Was there such a thing as bipolar burnout? Maybe it had a different name, but surely, there had to be something of the sort. He wracked his brain, trying to find the slightest hint of something useful from all of the research he did on bipolar disorder last semester. There had to have been something he learned that could help…

“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about,” Calanthe said, cutting off Logan’s thought process. “Definitely not something he’d want you worrying about, anyway. Hey, since we’re here, would you want to have a sparring match? Who knows what Glynda’s gonna put us through tomorrow afternoon when we get back to her class.”

Logan glanced back at the training dummy laying on the floor, rolling the question over in his head. “Well… I suppose it would be more beneficial to train with another person, rather than an object…”

Beaming, Calanthe punched the air before turning to lightly repeat the action on Lloyd. “You get to ref!”

“Why do I always get stuck with the job?!”

“’Cause you’re the only other person here.”

He shot her a glare before huffing and heading towards the locker rooms. “ _Fine_ , but only if I get to spar the winner!”

“Deal!” Jogging after her teammate, Calanthe twisted herself to look back at Logan. “We’ll be right back!”

“Take your time,” he hollered back.

As soon as they were out of sight, Logan let out a soft sigh and headed towards the training dummy. He forced his thoughts to mull over Calanthe’s semblance (the ability to detect others’ auras) and her weak points (pauciarticular juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, mainly affecting her knees). A strategy did its best to form in his mind, and he did what he could to keep the thoughts of her teammate held off.

He could worry about Thamir later.


	3. Out of the Nest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton has some questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Behind the Scenes: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/173870585103/prvl-v2c3-out-of-the-nest-behind-the-scenes
> 
> Warnings: mentions of death, autistic shutdown, fighting

_Team BYRD_

_-Regarded as the best team of Huntresses in the history of Remnant_

_-Formed 27 years ago at Beacon Academy (just like us!!)_

_-Bellona Desmond- leader -grew up in Mistral (maybe near Virgil?), main weapon was a scythe that could fold up into a bottle of powder dust spray; passed away 11 years ago at 33 (the pink one on the poster)_

_-Yana Pelerina- -Right-hand woman -grew up in Vale (maybe near me? Or Logan, or Roman), main weapon was a crossbow (the blue one)_

_-Rudo Grace- grew up in Atlas (like Cinnabar Hair), main weapon was a guitar that was part sword; passed away 6 years ago at 38 (the green one)_

_-Duri Uju- grew up in Mistral (Like Virgil and Bellona), main weapon was a pair of pistols that could be put together to form a boomerang (the orange one)_

_(Ask Roman what their semblances were)_

_-Bellona was the Vytal Festival Champion the second time they entered the tournament (24 years ago)_

_-Split up 18 years ago (Why?)_

_-Never released why Bellona and Rudo died_

_-Left a whole bunch of influences, like giving our Daves nicknames or having weapons that double as other weapons (look up if there’s such a thing as a gun-gun)_

_( **ASK DR. OOBLECK WHY THEY BROKE UP AFTER CLASS** )_

The bell rang through the room, ripping Patton out of his thoughts so violently that he dropped his pencil and threw his hands over his ears. There was a beat as he heard the muffled sounds of chatter and shuffling papers; a hand rested on his shoulder, and he slowly cracked his eyes open.

Roman raised an eyebrow. “You good, Pat?”

Forcing his shoulders to relax, Patton uncovered his ears and nodded. “Yeah, I, uh… The bell just kinda scared me, is all,” he laughed.

Roman shot him a skeptical look, but removed his hand and gathered up his things regardless. Patton quietly lifted his sheet of notes and scanned them over while Roman began to ramble.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I actually enjoyed class today,” he said. “I never thought I would have fun in history. Don’t say anything to Logan, though, he’ll never let me hear the end of it.”

“Mm-hm.”

“I’m serious! He’s already got enough to hold over me since he managed to beat me in Glynda’s on Tuesday; he doesn’t need to start thinking I’ve started enjoying my studies just because we happened to be talking about the goddesses of Remnant today!”

“Mm-hm.”

Roman paused. “…Are you sure you’re alright?”

Blinking, Patton looked up from his notes; Roman stood at the end of the row, weight on the leg opposite of the side his satchel hung on. Patton climbed to his feet and glanced to the front of the room as Dr. Oobleck wiped off the board.

“Um… Yeah,” he finally said. “You go on ahead. I need to ask Dr. Oobleck a question.”

A frown etched onto Roman’s face, brows furrowing. “By yourself? Patton, I am more than okay with missing my lunch if you don’t want to talk to a figure of authority alone. I know how nervous you get…”

“No, it’s fine. You need to eat.” Reaching over to gather the rest of his belongings, he waved Roman off. “Besides, I… kind of want to see if I can handle this. I need to get better at being independent. You guys won’t always be around to keep me safe, you know? I just have to take it one step at a time.”

He shuffled his way over to the stairs, doing his best not to shrink away from his friend’s broad smile. Roman roughly patted him on the back and rubbed his hand against the cloth of his cloak.

“Our brave leader,” he beamed. “Good luck. I’ll let the other two know what adventures you’re vanquishing. If anything goes wrong, you know where to find us.”

Patton smiled and nodded. “Thanks! Now you go eat something, right now. You only have half an hour before your next class.”

“Oh, I know, I know, Padre,” he huffed. With one last wave, he turned and headed up the stairs and out of the room, leaving Patton to face his fears on his own.

By the time he started to make his way to the front of the room, Dr. Oobleck was back at his desk, flipping through the textbook and scribbling notes into his lesson plans. He remained absorbed in his work as Patton stood in front of him. A moment of silence passed.

“Um… Dr. Oobleck?”

Dr. Oobleck snapped his gaze up; he adjusted his glasses, keeping his pen on the paper. “Mr. Passio. What can I do for you?”

“I… I have a question,” he admitted. “About Team BYRD.”

“And what might that be?”

Patton shifted in his spot and glanced down at the sheet of notes in his hands. “Did they ever give a reason for why they broke up?”

Dr. Oobleck hummed. “Not in the textbook, if I remember correctly. You won’t need to know it for the exam. No worries.”

“Do _you_ know, by any chance?” he pressed. “I know I don’t need to, but… I’m curious. I really like Team BYRD. I want to know what happened to them.”

Pausing, Dr. Oobleck stared at Patton for a beat. His eyes flicked back and forth between Patton’s; he set his pen to the side and laid his palms flat on the desk. For a moment, he turned his face away, pressing his lips tightly together.

There was a beat of silence.

“…Do you recall when I mentioned Bellona was married?” he asked.

Patton blinked, dropping his gaze to his notes. “U-Um… I didn’t write that one down. Sorry.”

“It’s quite alright. I am aware that I sometimes rush through information.” Dr. Oobleck stood a little straighter. “But yes, Bellona Desmond did marry a man, just a couple of years before Team BYRD parted ways. Quite a happy couple, really. Balanced enough that she managed to keep the relationship healthy and out of the public eye while still hunting and carrying out her dreams.”

“Is her husband the reason they broke up?”

“It’s… a bit more complicated than that, I’m afraid,” Oobleck said, voice softer than before. He paused again, pulling his hands off of the desk. “Bellona was a wonderful woman, both inside and out. Kind, skilled, full of potential—not much unlike yourself, Mr. Passio. But she was also a very private woman.”

He sat in his chair and quietly opened one of the desk drawers. “She kept as much of her life outside of the public eye as she possibly could. I was… fortunate enough to be one of the few that she trusted.”

The drawer shut, the clanging echoing through the empty room. Patton winced, but quickly looked back to Dr. Oobleck. “You were friends?”

“I believe she may have seen us in that sort of light, yes. I, however, saw her as more of a role model, even before they began to grow popular. Bellona was only a couple of years ahead of me when we attended this very school. After she graduated and Team BYRD began their rise to fame, we managed to keep in contact.”

Another drawer slid open. Dr. Oobleck paused, falling silent for a long moment.

“This… next information I am about to give you is not something most of the world knows, and I trust you will not go spreading it,” he said softly. “Can you promise me that?”

Patton nodded. “Of course.”

Gently, Dr. Oobleck reached into the drawer and pulled out an envelope. He carefully opened it and looked inside. Another silence fell in the room.

After a moment, he pulled a photograph out that had been tucked between the papers inside. He stared wistfully at it for a few seconds before he handed it over to Patton, who hesitantly looked it over.

His eyes widened, and he snapped his head up to look at Dr. Oobleck. “They had a baby,” he whispered.

He slowly nodded, avoiding Patton’s eyes. “Shortly after Bellona became pregnant, the four of them decided it would be for the best if they went on a hiatus of sorts, until the child was born and Bellona had recovered. Historians have that day marked as the day Team BYRD broke up for good, but it wasn’t supposed to be a permanent development.”

“I… I don’t understand,” Patton admitted. “She died seven years after they broke—after they went on hiatus, didn’t she? What happened that it took her seven years to recover?”

“Well… As I said earlier, Bellona was a very kind woman. Once she became a mother, she decided she didn’t want to leave their child to grow up without her presence, and she chose to refrain from missions until that child was old enough to decide whether or not they wanted to persue a similar career. She… unfortunately passed away before that decision could be made.”

A melancholic air fell around the empty lecture hall. Patton looked back down at the photograph in his hands.

Bellona sat in a hospital bed, holding a bundle of pink blankets. She looked a few years older than she did on the poster in their dorm. Her long, brown hair was pulled behind her ears, and any stray locks were matted to her forehead. There were bags under her eyes. Despite the exhaustion, a soft smile rested on her lips. Whoever was taking the photograph had stuck their hand in the frame, holding a thumbs up towards the baby. If Patton looked closely, he could see a pair of tiny brown eyes looking up at Bellona.

Dr. Oobleck cleared his throat, and Patton snapped back into reality. He reached down and picked up his pen, scribbling in his planner once more.

“But, of course, none of this is to be on the test,” he rambled, voice slightly strained. “I believe that should be enough to satisfy your hunger for knowledge today. Now, run along. I’m sure your hunger for food is just as high.”

Patton’s tongue felt heavy in his mouth; he nodded and quietly set the picture next to the planner before he walked towards the stairs. As his foot landed on the first step, he cast a glance back to see that the professor had paused his planning to shut his eyes. He swallowed thickly and did his best to gather the strength he needed to speak.

“Thank you, Dr. Oobleck,” he finally said.

A soft smile twitched at his lips. “You’re very welcome.”

Patton turned and headed up the stairs and out of the classroom, making as little noise as possible.

* * *

Shifting the strap of his quiver, Anole anxiously fidgeted with the leather. The wind of the loading docks whipped his hair back and forth as another airship lowered. He watched Team CFVY climb on board and swallowed thickly before turning around to face the rest of his teammates.

“Okay,” he said. “Okay. Just—I want to go over the mission one more time. I know this will be, like, the third time, but just for me, hear me out one last time, okay?”

Marjani threw up a peace sign. “Sounds good to me!”

Bora nodded in agreement; Riad let out a soft grunt as he stared at his scroll. Anole did his best to ignore it as he took a deep breath.

“The airship to Mistral should be arriving soon,” he rambled. “Since we’re going by airship, it should only take us about a day or so to get there.”

“And we’re going to the City of Mistral, not the Kingdom, right?” Bora asked.

“Yes. Well, no—we’re still in the Kingdom, but the airship is taking us directly to the City. When we land there, we’re supposed to take another airship to get to Shion Village.”

“That’s where we’ll find Xian Luse!” Marjani exclaimed.

Anole nodded. “Once we find her, she’s going to lead us to where she saw her daughter last. We’ll do what we can until we find her from there. Once the mission is over, we find our way back to the airships to come back to Beacon. This is our first mission without a professional Hunter coming with us, so we need to try and… _Riad_.”

Blinking, Riad looked up. “What?”

“Dude, _focus!_ ” Anole snapped. “I know we’ve already gone over this stuff, but it’s still important!”

“Sorry. Also, Roman says good luck.”

Anole scowled. Riad stared at his leader for a beat before closing his scroll and putting it back into his pocket.

* * *

Everything was bad.

It was taking every ounce of willpower in Logan’s body to not just curl up in the middle of the hallway, cover his eyes, and wait for everything to stop. The lights were too bright, and there were too many people around them, and Roman was talking to him and expecting him to reply but he was so overwhelmed that he couldn’t process anything to think of the proper way to respond, and even if he could he was nonverbal so no audible sounds were going to come out anyway…

Roman’s wings fluttered as he let out a heavy sigh. Logan did his best to focus.

“I know all of this romance business is something you don’t really get,” he sighed, “but I just miss him _so much._ AMBR’s been gone for three whole days already! Thank the gods for the CCT, of course, because I don’t have to go a day without seeing his wonderful words, but I wish he was _here_ …”

Logan nodded, chewing on the inside of his cheek. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Roman shooting him a glance. His hands lifted to grip the strap of his satchel as he inched closer to him, wings subtly moving as far away from Logan as they possibly could reach.

“…Are you doing alright?” he softly asked. “You’ve been awfully quiet all morning…”

Swallowing thickly, Logan forced his head to lower as much as he could and nodded. _I’m fine,_ he thought, _I just have to make it through the day and do my homework and study and then everything will be okay, I promise._

Rationally, he was aware of how unrealistic it all was. His muscles were already tensing up and his heart was thundering, and part of him was worried that once he sat down in class, he wouldn’t be able to move again—but he couldn’t let Roman know that. Roman would worry and make him go back to their dorm. He couldn’t miss class. Breaking routine was absolutely not an option today.

So he kept his mouth shut like he had a choice, kept his head down so his teammate couldn’t see his face, and proceeded to keep moving forward, no matter how hard it was.

Professor Peach was waiting outside of the lecture hall for them, and through his swimming mind, Logan vaguely registered her handing them each a set of papers. In a blur, he and Roman were sitting in their regular seats. He clenched the papers and sucked in a breath, trying to find the focus to figure out what they were.

Familiar typing sat at the top. Slowly, it clicked. This was a test they had taken last week.

The red ink next to his name began to process.

He felt his heart stop.

_B+_

His mind silenced and started screaming at the same time. Overwhelming static filled his ears. He tried with all his might to force himself to look away, to close his eyes, hell, to even _blink,_ but he was completely frozen. There was nothing he could do but stare at the painfully bright letter mockingly staring back at him.

_B B B B B B B B B B B B B…_

Roman placed his own papers on the desk, the movement giving Logan just enough motivation to finally look away. His eyes darted to Roman’s test. Maybe it was just a hard test, maybe it was unfairly graded, maybe everyone had done poorly—

_A-_

Logan’s stomach flipped.

_Get out_

An image flashed in his mind, Professor Peach calling on him to answer a question and him being unable to move or respond and receiving weird and frustrated looks.

_Get out!_

He imagined enduring the whole period, completely frozen up, unable to process anything around him, until class ended and he made a scene because he couldn’t move and couldn’t get up to leave.

_Get out get out get out getoutgetoutgetoutgetoutoutoutoutoutoutoutoutoutout_

Mustering up all of the energy he could find to force himself past his muscles all locking up, Logan leapt over the desk, sprinting behind the students in the row in front to get to the aisle. He heard Roman calling after him, but he couldn’t think, couldn’t stop, couldn’t speak.

He ran out of the door just as the bell rang.

* * *

Roman pushed the door open as quietly as he could.

The lights were off. Logan’s backpack had been thrown on the floor, papers spilled everywhere. Roman followed the trail to see a figure in full uniform laying stock still on Logan’s bed. He bit down on his lip and gently shut the door behind him. Without the lights from the hallway, the room was cast in the warm glow of the early sunset.

“Hey, Lo,” he whispered.

There was no response. Roman figured as much.

In the silence, he set his own bag down on his desk chair before crouching to start picking up the papers. He could see Logan’s face at this angle. Wide eyes stared at the wall, dazed and unfocused. Roman held back a sigh.

“I got your work from your classes,” he said. “I had to lie to Professor Peach. Told her you’d gotten sick last night, and that you must not have been feeling well. She sent her sympathies.”

Roman stood, shuffling the papers until the edges were even. He reached down to pick up Logan’s backpack and moved them both to his desk. Once they were settled, he quietly walked over to the end of his bed.

As he reached down to untie Logan’s shoes, Roman let out a breath. “I know you can’t control this. I’m sorry it’s something you have to deal with. We were all quite worried when you didn’t show up to any other classes, but I told Patton and Virgil that you’d run out. I figured something like this was going on. They went to the library to give you some space, but I wanted to make sure you were okay, or at least taken care of.”

He placed Logan’s shoes on the floor before pulling a cup out of their closet and pouring a bottle of water into it. Roman walked to the other end of the bed and sat on the floor near Logan’s head. Setting the cup next to him, he pulled up his knees and rested the back of his head on the bed frame.

“I’ll be right here when it’s over.”

* * *

Patton groaned, flopping over the table. He stared up at the moon as it shone through the window. “D’you think it’s safe to go back yet?”

Shooting him a raised eyebrow, Virgil sighed and flipped the page to his textbook. “We’ll have to go back soon, anyway,” he pointed out. “Library’s only open for another half an hour.”

“But I want to go back now…”

Virgil didn’t respond. He tried to reign his focus back in on his reading, but knowing he needed to hurry and worrying about his teammate kept his brain from retaining any of the words on the paper.

Patton began to slide his hands around on the table, the noise echoing through the near empty library. Letting out a huff, Virgil slammed the book shut.

“Alright! Let’s just go!” he grumbled. “Nothing else to do here anyway…”

As he got to his feet, Patton stared up at him, frown etching onto his face. “Don’t you need to study?” he asked.

Virgil snatched the book up and started to walk to the shelf it came from. “Can’t study if I can’t focus.”

Patton’s scroll buzzed just as Virgil slid the book back into place; he let out a sigh and turned around to glare.

“S’that your relative?”

“No, Roman… I guess Logan’s okay now,” he replied. He stood, eyes glued to the message and brow furrowed. “Roman thinks he was having a shutdown. Poor guy started crying once he was able to move…”

Frowning, Virgil strode back over and slung his backpack over his shoulder. “Guess that’s all the more reason to head back now.”

“I hope he’s alright,” Patton muttered. “Maybe we should stop by the kitchen and bake him some cookies!”

The two began to walk towards the exit; Virgil scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Pat, he barely touched the ones we baked over break. I don’t know if he’d appreciate that as much as some peace and quiet.”

Patton gasped. “Virgil! Cookies make everything better!”

“Unless you’re gluten or lactose intolerant,” he retorted.

“There’s those peanut butter no-bakes!”

“Which will kill you if you have a peanut allergy…”

The cool evening chill settled over them as soon as they pushed through the doors. Sucking in a deep breath, Patton shut his eyes, tipping his head back to face the sky and forgetting all about the previous conversation.

“I love summer nights,” he sighed. “Are they this nice in Mistral, Virge?”

Virgil shrugged, leading them down the steps. “I guess. Too many fireflies to really enjoy it.”

Eyes flying open, Patton snapped his head to look at him. His yelp echoed through the empty courtyard. “You don’t like lightning bugs?!”

“They’re _everywhere_ in Mistral! You can’t go two feet without getting swarmed!”

“That sounds amazing!” Letting out a squeal, Patton looked ahead and beamed. “Gods, Mistral sounds more and more amazing every time you talk about it! I’d love to visit someday…”

Virgil let out a weak laugh. “Yeah, it’s… it’s nice. Maybe you can come to hang out sometime,” he suggested. “We’ve got a longer break after the Vytal Festival Tournament, right? You can come home with me then. I’m sure Dad and Papi would like meeting you face to face.”

Patton paused. His stride slowed to a stop as he turned to look at him.

“…Do you mean that?”

Virgil blinked and stopped to return the stare. “Yeah? I mean… I’m not going to let you stay on campus by yourself. And you’re not going back to your relatives for that much time as long as I’m standing.”

“You’re sure your dads won’t mind?” he asked.

“Dude, are you kidding? They love you!” Virgil laughed. “I’m surprised Papi hasn’t flown over to get a family portrait with you yet!”

Stars started to glow in Patton’s eyes, but a flash of pain snuffed out the light. He stepped back, wrapping his arms around himself. “I… I don’t know,” he said. “I really do want to, but I don’t want to be a burden or anything…”

Virgil frowned. “You won’t be.”

“I know _you_ think that, but… I don’t know.” Patton let out a sigh and looked away. “Dads are… hard. I don’t want you to get in trouble over me.”

“I’m not getting into trouble for bringing you back to Mistral with me,” Virgil stated. “Dad and Papi would _never_ get mad at either of us for something like this. Hell, they hardly ever get mad at all! No one’s going to get yelled at, I promise.”

Patton’s shoulders relaxed a bit, but his arms still stayed where they were. He chewed on his lip. Virgil shifted his backpack and reached over to put a hand on his bicep.

“Listen, if it’ll help, we can go call them,” he softly said. “Papi said they were going to see that new Spruce Willis horror film tonight, so Dad at least is probably still up. He can talk you into believing me, right?”

There was a moment of hesitation, but Patton eventually found himself nodding and looking back at Virgil. He smiled and patted his arm before turning in the opposite direction to where they’d been going.

“The CCT should be open until nine. An hour is _plenty_ of time,” Virgil pointed out.

Patton tugged at his cloak’s collar, following after his friend.

As they approached the other end of the library, Patton looked around. “It’s really quiet tonight.”

“Guess everyone’s studying,” Virgil muttered. “Why, were you expecting to see someone?”

Cinnabar Hair flashed through Patton’s mind. He turned his face away before Virgil could see it reddening.

“Well… There’s definitely some people I wouldn’t _mind_ seeing around…”

“Gods, if you say any of the members of Achieve Men, I’m…”

The sound of thudding footsteps echoed through the courtyard, causing Virgil to trail off as he looked towards the sound. Patton did the same, a frown etching on his face when he saw the source.

The woman tipped her red cowboy hat, eyeing both of the boys carefully. One of her hands adjusted the red bandanna around the lower half of her face while the other reached towards the holster on her leather belt. She paused. Her eyebrow raised just as Virgil narrowed his eyes at her.

“Aren’t you a little old to be attending Beacon?” he sneered.

She didn’t respond. Slowly, she reached up to pull the bandanna away. “Either of you boys armed?” she asked.

As soon as Patton processed the words through her thick accent, he lit up. “Oh, yeah! Both of us!” he exclaimed. “In fact, we’ve both got two arms each!”

Virgil held out his hand and shot him a warning look. He turned back to the woman and glared.

“Why do you need to know?”

Her hand moved away from the holster. “You don’t pull a gun on an unarmed man,” she replied.

She began to stalk forward. Virgil stepped in front of Patton.

“Why would you be pulling a gun on us?” he asked.

She pointed at Patton. “Well, I need you to come with me, boy,” she stated, “And I doubt you’d be going without a fight.”

Patton’s eyes widened. “Huh…?”

Without taking his eyes off of her, Virgil pressed his hand into Patton’s chest and pushed him back a step. “He’s not going with you at all.”

“I don’t think you’re going to be the judge of that,” she said.

The woman came to a stop a few inches in front of him; they glared each other down for a long moment. Patton swallowed thickly and bit down on his lip.

There was silence.

Finally, she drew back her fist and drove it into Virgil’s face, knocking him back a few steps as he yelped. He growled and threw a punch back, but she grabbed his fist before it could make contact. He thrust his knee into her gut; she hardly flinched. The woman spun him around and twisted his arm behind his back.

Letting out a yell, he looked at Patton. “Dude, _run!_ ”

Patton clenched his jaw. “No one messes with my family!”

“Don’t—!”

As he ran forward, the woman shoved Virgil to the side and lunged for Patton. He ducked under her and swooped his legs, causing her to trip and stumble. The second she regained her balance, she whipped around and threw her fist into his jaw. His glasses flew off his face. Patton fell to the ground with stars in his vision.

He heard Virgil leap over him, and he looked up in time to watch him drive his leg into her stomach; she took a step back before lifting her arm and slamming her elbow into his chest. He stumbled, but grabbed his backpack and swung it around. It slammed into her face. She growled and lifted her foot.

Her boot then crashed into his abdomen, sending him to the ground with a yell.

Virgil lay still for a moment, gasping for air. He crawled to his hands and knees. One hand gripped tightly at his chest as he coughed.

Patton started to climb to his feet, but a foot landed on his back and pinned him. As he groaned, the woman reached down and rolled him over. She grabbed his shirt and lifted him off of his feet.

They stared at each other.

Her face turned as red as her hat.

The next thing he knew, he was crashing back into the concrete as the sound of thudding boots sprinted off. Patton sat up and frowned; he tilted his head.

“What was that about…?” he whispered.

There was a cough behind him. He gasped.

“Virgil!”

Patton scrambled to his feet and bolted, skidding on his knees as soon as he got near his teammate. He laid his hand on his back and rubbed little circles until Virgil regained control of his breathing.

He carefully looked up and lifted his hand to clutch at his chest. “Are you okay?” he rasped.

“I should be asking _you_ that, kiddo,” Patton weakly laughed.

“What happened?”

Patton shook his head. “I don’t know. She just took off. Must’ve changed her mind or something.”

Nodding, Virgil sat back and shut his eyes, breaths still short and heavy. Patton crawled away long enough to grab his glasses. He grabbed Virgil’s backpack over and brought it over, sitting on his knees next to him.

He looked away, doing what he could to force his emotions away.

“So…,” he said. “Cookies?”


	4. Electric Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life is a roller coaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Mild swearing, food mention, talk about depression, mention of self harm, yelling, crying
> 
> Behind the Scenes: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/174096500888/prvl-v2c4-electric-blue-behind-the-scenes

The early morning chill in the air mixed with the impending humidity of the day, leaving a sticky residue on the open skin of anyone who stepped outside. Roman was doing what he could to wipe it off, but there was too much to attend to, and not enough time before it reappeared. He settled for wrapping his arms around himself as best as he could to cover it all up as he sat on the bench, watching the sunrise.

Each gust of wind the loading docks produced left a string of goosebumps across his arms and his back. Normally, in this type of situation, he would simply wrap his wings around himself and be done with it. But he couldn’t today; no, he needed his full vision right now. That was his entire reason for being out here. He just had to wait a little bit longer, and then he could go back inside. Just a little longer…

An airship pulled into the docks. Roman jumped to his feet.

Marjani climbed off first, pushing her bright pink braids out of her face while the wind knocked them around. She hoisted her bag before turning and holding her hand up back up towards the door. Bora gripped it tightly as she lifted the bottom of her long skirt and stepped to the ground.

As soon as the girls saw Roman, they grinned and waved. Roman returned the gesture just as they stepped aside to reveal the teammate climbing off of the ship next. Once balanced, he offered a gentle smile, and Roman melted.

“Riad!”

He ran forward, and Riad held out an arm for Roman to tuck himself under. Roman wrapped his arms around his chest and under his bag. The quick squeeze Riad gave was soft and secure; Roman almost never wanted to let go.

Riad pulled away and gave him a grin that almost made the lack of contact worth it. “Missed you,” he laughed.

“Missed you, too,” Roman sighed. “I’m so glad you’re back.”

They stared at each other for a long moment. Roman studied how the flecks of bronze stood out against his walnut oak irises, and how the growing sunlight gave them a slight hickory hue.

Anole scoffed as he walked past, snapping Roman back into reality. He blinked and turned to greet him, but he was already making quick strides down the sidewalk towards the dorms.

“Glad to see you missed your brother just as much.”

* * *

The clinking of mugs and soft chatter gave the café a soft hum of background noise. The smell of coffee grounds wafted through the air, mixing in sweetly with the scent of pastries and breakfast foods. A blender rattled in the back room, and one of the baristas yelled back at her coworker.

Patton was doing his best to block it all out and listen to Logan. It was harder than he would have liked it to be.

“…created humanity, with knowledge, the power to create or destroy, and the power to choose which path to follow.”

Logan sat up straight, scribbling one last thing on his little notebook doodle before adjusting his glasses and looking to Patton. There was a beat, and then his eyes narrowed.

“You didn’t pay attention this time, did you?”

Holding up his hands with a sheepish grin, Patton let out a little laugh. “I- I’m sorry, Lo. I promise I’m trying, I just keep getting distracted!”

Logan huffed, rubbing at his forehead. “While I have to agree with you that this is a poor choice of studying location—”

“Look, Riad’s back! I wanted to celebrate by buying him coffee!” Roman exclaimed from across the table.

Virgil raised an eyebrow, eyes still on his notes. “Is that why we’ve been here for two hours already?”

“—Patton, you simply have to start trying a little harder,” Logan finished. “If you want to pass that religion test that Dr. Picani is making us take, gods know why, you’ve got to listen. The legend of the Deity Brothers is quite possibly the simplest of the variety of myths we’ve read about.”

“I _know_ , Logan, but it’s so loud!” Patton said.

“Well, perhaps it’s time we head back then,” Logan replied. He shot Roman a pointed look. “Surely, you’ve had ample time to buy your romantic partner coffee by now.”

Roman spluttered, face turning almost as red as his sash. “We aren’t dating yet!”

“Fine, your romantic interest.”

“I—”

“Don’t even try to deny that one, Princey,” Virgil interrupted, throwing up a hand.

“That sounds like a challenge!”

“It wasn’t.”

As the two dissolved into an argument and Logan let out a sigh, Patton found his focus being drowned in the sounds of the café again. Soft music had started playing over the speakers; his brain started working in overdrive to try to make out the words. He heard something about a night with no day and a spark coming into view before a loud laugh from the back room yanked him out of the trance.

His eyes flicked to the people walking past the window outside. Flustered business men scurrying by. Tired mothers and rambunctious children. A girl with wavy hair pulled into a pair of buns and a smile as wide as the ocean.

A flash of cinnabar hair.

Patton sucked in a soft gasp.

Roman leaned into his field of vision, raising an eyebrow. “You good, Pat?”

“Yeah, I…”

He craned his neck to look between Roman’s wings just as the girl next to the boy said something and threw her hands up. Cinnabar Hair laughed, and Patton felt his heart lurch.

Before he really knew what he was doing, he was shoving his way out of the door.

The two turned to look at him, and Patton froze in his tracks. Cinnabar Hair narrowed his eyes as soon as they landed on him, but the girl beamed and waved. Patton swallowed thickly and waved back. His heart thundered in his chest.

“Hey, you’re in my Grimm Studies class with Professor Port!” she exclaimed. “I’ve been meaning to tell you, I really love your cloak! It looks super cool!”

Patton forced a smile onto his face. “I, uh… Thanks,” he said. “My name’s Patton.”

The bell on the café entrance jingled again, and the girl waved at the three sets of footsteps rushing out behind him. Patton glanced at Cinnabar Hair; his brows were furrowing more and more by the second. He had to fight off a smile. It was really cute.

“Patton, what in the world is going on with you?” Roman huffed.

Logan crossed his arms. “You can’t just go running off like that.”

“He was just coming to say hi to us!” the girl stated. “You’re his teammates, right? I know you’re Roman, and you’re Virgil!”

“You’re in my Dust Class,” Virgil said.

She nodded, and then she pointed at Logan, raising an eyebrow and leaning back. “And you’re…?”

“Logan Lyceum,” Cinnabar Hair said. “I sit behind him in Weapons.”

A frown etched onto Logan’s face as he scanned Cinnabar Hair up and down; he opened his mouth, but before any words could come out, the girl clapped her hands together and grinned.

“Well, it’s super nice to meet you guys, finally!” she laughed. “My name’s Melina, and this is our leader, Li! We’re here for the tournament!”

“From Atlas, correct?” Roman asked.

Melina gasped. “How did you know?!”

The others all turned their eyes to Patton. His face heated, and he turned to look at the sidewalk, rubbing the back of his neck. Virgil nudged him.

“Our leaders had a run in a few weeks ago,” he said.

“What?!” She whipped around, smacking the back of her hand against Li’s bicep. “Why didn’t you tell me you made friends without me?!”

Li rolled his eyes. Patton’s heart fluttered.

“If you want to refer to someone being thrown into me as a friend, be my guest,” he said. “I’m going to keep my standards a little higher than that.”

Patton burst into laughter, doubling over and cackling to the ground until his ribs ached. His arm wrapped around his torso as his eyes squeezed shut. He gasped for air in between each string.

It wasn’t until he realized he was the only one laughing did he force himself to calm down.

Carefully, he looked up to find all eyes on him. His own darted to Li to find a raised eyebrow aimed in his direction. Patton stood up straight, worrying that his face was turning the same shade as his hair.

“…Right,” Melina said. “Well, Li and I have to get back to Beacon. Naomi and Nessa are waiting for us. We don’t like keeping Team LMNN apart for too long. Sorry for cutting this short!”

“Oh, PRVL is exactly the same way,” Logan pointed out. “There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Tell them we said hi!” Patton exclaimed.

Li turned around. “Yeah, sure.”

Melina waved as they walked off. Patton was the only one to wave back.

Letting out a hum, Roman strolled over to stand in front of him. “Looks like _someone_ is smitten…”

Patton blinked. “What do you mean?”

“ _Please_ , Padre, you think I wouldn’t notice? The stares, the blush, the way you laughed _way_ too hard at his little comment about platonic standards… It’s obvious there’s something going on here,” Roman said.

Face heating, Patton pulled at his cloak’s collar and looked away. “I mean… Li’s nice,” he muttered. “His hair is really pretty…”

“How can you tell if he’s kind or not? We’ve met him twice,” Logan pointed out.

“Love has a funny way of filling in the gaps,” Roman replied.

Virgil scoffed. “So having false expectations means you have a crush? Geez, maybe I’m _not_ aromantic after all.”

Rolling his eyes, Roman turned back to Patton. “Well, Patton,” he said, “since it seems _you_ like a boy, and we all know _I_ like a boy, I say we have a little… competition, so to speak.”

Patton raised an eyebrow. “Competition?”

Roman put his hands behind his back and smirked. “Keep your eye on the ball, Pat.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Virgil laughed.

“It _means_ , the Vytal Festival Ball is coming up,” Roman retorted. “And as with every fairy tale ball, it is of the vast importance to have a partner to dance with, enjoy the night, and make you look great.”

“So you’re proposing that you and Patton compete to see you can acquire their romantic interest first?” Logan asked.

Lifting a hand, Roman shut his eyes. “Not at all. _I’m_ suggesting that whoever’s date is the best dancer and best dressed wins. And it’s _not_ just Patton and I, by the way. I’ve seen how you look at Thamir.”

Logan glared. “I am _straight_.”

“As is a dried noodle, until you get it in the right environment!”

Virgil cackled, turning to take a few steps away while Logan’s face reddened; Roman smirked before looking back to Patton and holding out his hand.

“How about it?”

Patton’s eyes flicked back and forth between the offered handshake and Roman’s confident smile. He bit down on his lip and glanced away.

“…What if our date says no?” he quietly asked.

Roman guffawed. “ _Please!_ You’re the softest little puffball on this campus; who would say no to you?”

“Aren’t you worried about Riad?”

“Of course not. I know how to woo a man into saying yes to anything,” he replied.

Patton stared at Roman, who had his eyebrows raised high. He turned his head to look down the sidewalk to where Li and Melina had disappeared. Nibbling on his lip again, he slowly turned back and nodded.

“Okay.”

Their hands clapped together, and Roman gave Patton the firmest handshake he’d ever received in his life. “Well done, Patton! I assure you, this will be the most fair and rewarding competition you shall ever have the pleasure of being a part of! And Logan?”

Roman spun around and held out his hand, waggling his eyebrows; Logan glared and slapped the hand away.

“I am _not_ participating in any silly competitions about _romance_ ,” he spat, “Nor am I going to be participating in the festivities at all about the Vytal Festival Ball. Need I remind you two that our job shadowing mission begins the next day? We need to be at our top health and rest if we want to do well on our first mission.”

Virgil hummed. “I mean, Uncle Chao took us on a mission last semester… Wouldn’t that count as our first?”

“Our first _official_ mission. That one is not appearing on our records.”

Letting out a groan, Roman tilted his head back and arched his back. “Come _on,_ Bore-a Valkyrie! Everyone’s going to the dance! You can’t just skip out!”

“I can, and if I’m the most prepared for our mission, then that’s just how it will be,” Logan firmly stated.

“But… What’re you going to do if Thamir asks you?” Patton asked.

Logan fell silent. His eyes drifted away from his teammates, trailing to the sidewalk and another thought process. After a moment, he closed them and let out a breath.

“I doubt he’ll be going to the ball if he can hardly even make it to class these days.”

* * *

Logan had expected to be left in waiting for a moment or two after he knocked on the door. He’d prepared himself to carefully trade the hot foam cup and the blueberry muffin between his hands as the tea grew too warm to handle, and to run reassurances to himself in his mind as the seconds ticked on.

Instead, the door swung open just a few seconds after he’d pulled his hand away from the wood. He and Nila blinked at each other for a beat.

“Hey,” she finally said, tired smile forming on her face. “What’s up?”

Logan did his best to adjust his glasses with his hands full. “Good afternoon, Nila. I was wondering if Thamir’s in?”

She glanced over her shoulder before turning back and nodding. “Yeah, he’s just… Having a rough day. Did you need him for something?”

“Yes. I read that chamomile tea and remembering to eat can help alleviate symptoms of depression, and assuming that that’s the reason we’ve seen so little of Thamir lately, I would like to see to it that he receives these.”

Nila stared at him. “…Wait, you know what’s going on?”

“Yes. He informed me last semester that he has bipolar disorder, and I did as much research as I could on the subject,” Logan replied. “Based on what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard from the three of you, it appears that Thamir’s having a depressive episode. Of course, I can’t say for certain, as there’s no way to one hundred percent guarantee something like this without psychological testing, but I—”

A soft, muffled laugh sounded behind Nila, snatching Logan’s voice away for a moment.

“Gods, Lo… Let him in before he gives us an exam and fails us.”

Nila stepped back into the room and opened the doorway. Logan walked in, carefully watching as Thamir struggled to push himself into a sitting position on his bed. When he looked up, they made eye contact, and he offered an embarrassed chuckle.

He waved with two fingers. “Hey.”

“Salutations,” Logan whispered.

Thamir shifted around, pulling his legs into a criss-cross position as he pulled the sleeves of his sweatshirt over his hands. Logan walked over and held out the food and tea, but Thamir shook his head and patted the mattress.

“I really appreciate it, Logan,” he said. “Honestly, I do. I just… Don’t really have an appetite right now. I’m sorry.”

“It’s quite alright. I understand that it’s a common thing in this sort of situation.” Logan held the muffin out further. “However, I do want you to at least take these and save them for when your appetite does return. It would give me a great deal of relief.”

Weak smile pulling at his lips, Thamir nodded and took them out of his hands. He set the muffin on the bookshelf before taking a small sip of the tea. Immediately, he winced and pulled back.

“Gods, that’s hot,” he hissed.

“Apologies.”

“Not your fault.”

There was a nervous cough across the room, and Thamir and Logan turned to look at Nila. She shifted and rubbed the back of her neck.

“Well… I’m gonna go to… the library,” she said. “Give you guys some time. I think Calanthe and Lloyd are gonna be back soon, or something.”

She bolted, and the room fell silent. Thamir and Logan looked at each other.

Again, Thamir inched back and patted the mattress. It finally clicked in Logan’s mind what he was asking. Carefully, he sat.

“So… How have things been?”

Thamir let out a small, bitter laugh, lifting the cup back to his lips. “About the same as any other depressive episode: exhausting, frustrating, and kinda disgusting. I haven’t showered since Tuesday.”

“Have you been washing your face, at least?” Logan asked.

“No.”

“Brushing your teeth?”

Thamir shook his head. “Too much effort. Executive dysfunction’s been kicking my ass.”

Logan hummed and adjusted his glasses. “Have you been attending classes?”

Thamir fell silent, and his gaze turned away; adjusting his glasses, Logan pressed his lips together.

“…Not as much as I should,” Thamir softly admitted. “I try, but it’s just… It’s exhausting, Lo. And does it even really matter if I’m just going to fail my classes anyway? Whether I go or not, it’s just going to yield the same results.”

“That is far from true.”

He narrowed his eyes. “How?”

“Well, for one, if you show up to class, you still get the points for attendance, regardless on whether or not you pay attention or do well,” Logan pointed out. “Not to mention the fact that if you’re there, there is the possibility that you might process _some_ information. Doing anything is better than doing nothing, regardless of whether or not it seems like it. If you—”

“Wait, wait, stop. Go back,” Thamir interrupted, waving a hand in front of him to cut Logan off. “’Doing nothing’? Is that what you think I’ve been doing this whole semester?”

Logan frowned. “I’m sorry, what? That’s not—”

“Do you think I’ve just been playing hooky for fun? Like I _enjoy_ this or something?” he snapped. “Logan, I’m _depressed._ I don’t have the energy to be doing everything you can. If I have the choice between spending it on going to class or resisting the urges to hurt myself, I think the answer’s going to be pretty damn obvious!”

Logan’s mouth snapped shut, and a silence fell between the two. Glare holding steady, Thamir tightened his grip on his tea and set it to the side.

“There’s a _reason_ my weapon doesn’t have any blades on it, you know. As badass as that would’ve been.” He turned and lay down with his back to Logan, yanking the blankets up to his chin. “Thanks for the food and stuff, but I really need to get some rest. Got some fights to keep up. Thanks for stopping by.”

There was a twist in Logan’s gut. A memory replayed of the first time the two had met, and how he’d felt something similar. He adjusted his glasses and fought to keep his tongue from sticking to the roof of his mouth.

“It… appears I miscommunicated something,” he softly pointed out. “I did not mean to upset you. Truly, I’m—”

“Logan, just go.”

“Thamir, I—”

Burying his face in his pillow, Thamir let out a soft growl. “ _Dude_ , I get it! You think I’m lazy; so does everyone else who’s never been bipolar! Just because you’re autistic and done research doesn’t mean you understand what I’m dealing with! You don’t know _everything_ , Logan, even if you act like it! Just… Leave me alone, will you?”

In the back of his mind, he knew that this wasn’t Thamir talking. He knew depression warped one’s way of thinking, he knew that Thamir may be susceptible to more irritability depending on how long ago he’d last eaten, he knew that the depression itself might be presenting as anger. Thamir was not acting rationally, and he most likely did not fully believe what he was saying.

And yet, even with all things considered… It hurt.

As quietly as he could, Logan stood. His throat tightened as he made his way to the door.

He paused with one step in the hall and looked back. Thamir hadn’t moved. Logan tried to offer one last apology, but found that he was completely nonverbal.

Chewing on his lip, Logan left.

* * *

“Gods, what a _jerk!_ ”

Patton watched as Logan rolled his eyes for the third time since they’d sat down for dinner. “Roman, he’s in a depressive episode. He’s not in control of his emotions. I did not come to you three about this for you to insult something that is not his fault.”

“Is that why you waited four days to say anything?” Virgil huffed.

“Yes. I needed the time to figure out how to present the situation without misphrasing something a second time.”

A frown etched onto Patton’s face, and he looked at Logan’s plate. “He hasn’t said anything since?”

He shook his head, adjusting his glasses. “I assume it’s more due to the fact that we haven’t seen each other. He still isn’t showing up to any classes.”

Roman scoffed. “Bold of him to skip so much after he lectured you last semester for doing the same thing.”

“He’s not just skipping,” Logan firmly snapped. “When one has a disease or disability like this, it takes the majority of your energy to try and fight it. Thamir has an incredibly valid excuse to be tired.”

“Does he have an incredibly valid excuse to be a jerk?” he shot back.

Logan rolled his eyes. Patton went to add a mental tally, but someone across the cafeteria dropped their fork against their plate, causing him to flinch and forget all about it.

“I’m gonna guess that’s the cue to change the subject,” Virgil said. He took a sip of his coffee—it was strong enough that Patton could smell it from all the way across the table, to the point where he was almost nauseous –and looked at Logan. “Papi told me they’re talking about making X-Ray and Vav into a TV show.”

The sunlight glinted off of Logan’s glasses for a split second. Patton felt like he was going to go blind.

“And who might ‘they’ be?” he asked. “Quite frankly, I don’t trust a lot of studios to do them justice.”

Virgil paused, biting on his lip in thought. “Mm… Cockbite Productions? Maybe? It was something like that.

Nodding, Logan pushed his pasta across his plate. The prongs of his fork screeched. “Isn’t that the studio that produced Pink Versus Purple?”

“That’s the one. Dyuuwashpeeveepee?”

Patton paused, but no one else seemed to pay the phrasing any mind. “…What?”

The other three ignored him and continued the conversation as if nothing had happened. Biting his lip, Patton looked away, trying to decipher what any of that could have meant.

Slowly, it began to process. _Do you watch PvP?_

He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. The chatter of the cafeteria and the clanging of metal against ceramic rattled his ear drums. His muscles began to tense.

“Patton?”

He snapped his gaze up to find all three of the others staring worriedly at him. Swallowing thickly, he looked at Virgil, whose frown deepened a bit.

“Yalrih?” he asked.

It took a moment for it to process. _You alright?_

He forced a smile onto his face and offered a set of finger guns. “I’m great!”

“Whireyu yelling?”

_Why are you yelling?_

A buzz started to form on his forearms. He fought to keep his breathing under control. _Not now, not now, not now…_

“I-I’m not… trying to,” he replied, doing what he could to lower his voice.

Roman reached over to put a hand on his arm; he ripped away before he could stop himself. Gasping, Patton looked up to him with wide eyes, only to see him frowning back. His eyebrows creased, like he was sad, but Patton knew people didn’t get sad when he got like this, why would Roman be sad—?

His scroll buzzed in his pocket just as Roman spoke, pulling his attention away from the words before he could hear them. Patton blinked and glanced down for just a second.

“…Huh?”

He spoke again.

_Are you sure you’re okay?_

Wrapping his arms around himself, Patton inched away. Everyone was too close, he was losing control—

“I’m fine,” he repeated.

His head started to spin.

There was a moment where the three stayed quiet, and then their silverware started hitting their plates again. It took everything for Patton to keep everything in, to hold back the explosion building up inside him. He was almost afraid to move.

His scroll buzzed again, reminding him of the waiting message. Carefully, he reached into his pocket and opened it.

_New Message: Dad_

_You’re upsetting your mother._

There was a crackling on his arms.

Tears pricked at his eyes as the world spun around him. Every noise suddenly felt like it was a thousand decibels, and every movement he saw caused him to want to tear his hair out. A scream built up in the back of his throat, but he could let it out, he couldn’t let it show that he was feeling like this, he couldn’t be bad, he didn’t want to get yelled at, he couldn’t misbehave or else—

“Pat—”

A hand rested on his shoulder, and he jumped away and out of his seat, the scream forming into a high-pitched whimper that rattled against his eardrums. The crackling grew worse, only adding to the panic. He had to get out, he had to hide, he had to _run!_

Patton bolted for the exit, only vaguely registering the voices calling after him.

* * *

The other three knew something bad was going on from the moment they sprinted into their dorm’s hall.

Lights were flickering under the crack of their room’s door, and loud whimpers sailed out from the same place. Thuds accompanied the sound, some heavy and dull, others sharp and snapping. Every once in a while, the whimpering would stop long enough for a gasping sob to make its way through the noise.

Roman hesitantly looked at Logan and Virgil. They looked back with equally wide eyes.

“What the hell is happening?” Virgil hissed. “This is something straight out of a horror movie!”

“It appears he’s under some quite heavy emotional distress of some sort,” Logan pointed out, looking back to the door.

Roman took flight, hurrying down the hall. “Whatever it is, he needs help!”

“Roman, be careful!”

The moment his hand touched the doorknob, it was zapped with a heavy shock of electricity; Roman let out a yell and yanked it away. His palm tingled. Using his other hand to rub it away, he looked cautiously at the flickering crack under the door. Scenarios of all sorts started to run through his head of what the hell could be going on in there.

The other two ran up to him, brows furrowed as deep as their frowns.

“What was that?”

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” he quickly replied, “I just don’t know about Patton. We have to get in there.”

Virgil clenched his fists and looked at the door. “I can break it down,” he stated.

“Absolutely not,” Logan said. “We have to be careful. We don’t know where Patton is, or what’s happening.”

Flexing his hands, Roman eyed the doorknob again. His eyes flicked between it and the wood of the door as another gasping sob sailed out. A growl formed in the back of his throat.

Roman sucked in a deep breath and grabbed the doorknob.

The electricity buzzed his hands, but he pushed forward anyway, turning the metal just enough to crack the door open. He ripped his hand away with a hiss as soon as he was able. Roman went to say something about it, but movement caught his eye before any words could form.

Any frustration he’d felt in the past few minutes melted away as he gently pushed door open a bit further. Patton was a mess, glasses gone, briskly pacing back and forth next to his bed with his arms flapping violently in front of him. His cloak had been pulled off of the collar and thrown haphazardly on his desk, and all of the items that were normally cluttering it were now scattered all over the floor. An empty water bottle lay on the carpet in his path, and every time he came to it, he snatched it up and flung it against the wall.

Most concerning of all, bolts of lightning were flying off of his forearms and scattering around the room. One flew towards the door, and the three had to duck to avoid being hit.

“What the hell?” Virgil breathed.

Logan stepped forward, taking extra care to avoid stepping beyond the door frame. “Patton, what’s wrong? What’s going on?” he called.

Patton gasped and whirled around, freezing on the spot. He was silent for a solid three seconds, eyes as big as the ocean as they flicked over the three. His hands flew over his mouth.

One last whine slipped through, and then Patton squeezed his eyes shut. Heavy sobs ripped out of him as violently as the new wave of electricity. His hands pulled away, but they twitched up and down seemingly unsure of whether to wrap around him or go back to covering his mouth. They eventually lifted to claw at the collar covering his throat.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m…”

Roman’s heart ripped in two. He pulled Logan out of the way.

“Patton, I’m coming in!”

Just as he was stepping into the room, a hand gripped his arm; he whirled around to shoot a glare at Virgil, who was glaring right back with wide eyes.

“Dude, be _careful,”_ he snapped. “You don’t know how powerful this stuff is!”

Roman glowered and yanked his arm away. “I know he’s hurting and needs help. He’s not a wild animal; we can’t just leave him like this!”

Virgil bit his lip and looked past him to stare at Patton. Roman took this as his cue to head in.

Taking a deep breath, he lifted his arms to cover his face and tucked his wings in as far as they could go. He carefully maneuvered his was through the door. A bolt of lightning immediately shocked his arm, but he gritted his teeth and pushed through the pain.

As soon as he got close enough, Roman lunged forward and snatched Patton into his arms. His entire body buzzed, but he didn’t dare let go. Patton threw his arms around him and buried his face in his chest, letting out a pained scream to be muffled in his shirt. Roman tucked his face into his neck to hide his grimace.

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

Carefully, Roman dragged them down to the floor and firmly held them there. He waited and whispered soft reassurrings while Patton continued to yell and sob. The longer they sat, the weaker the electricity grew.

When Roman was able to make a convincing attempt to hide his pain, he gently pushed Patton’s grip off of him and cradled him in his lap. He pressed his head against his chest and planted a gentle kiss into his hair.

“You’re safe, it’s okay,” he muttered.

Patton reached up and began to claw at his collar again. Roman shifted them and started to undo the clasp.

“Let’s get this off—”

“ ** _No!_** ”

Roman yanked his hand back, flinching at the crack in Patton’s voice. “Patton, it’s hurting you—”

The same hands that had just been trying to force it off were now clinging to it as if it was the only thing keeping him alive. He violently shook his head and let out a whimper.

“No, no, no, no, no!” he whined. “Bad, bad, bad, can’t, not allowed…!”

“Pat—”

He sobbed, curling into Roman’s chest and shaking his head again. “Please, please, please, no, don’t want to be yelled at, please…!”

The electricity began to grow again. Roman bit back a sigh and moved his hand to rest on Patton’s bicep. “Okay. We’ll keep it on. No one’s going to yell at you, promise.”

Patton shuddered, but the electricity weakened regardless. He gripped Roman’s shirt and buried his face. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

Roman carefully pulled him closer, twisting his head around to look back at Logan and Virgil. They remained in the doorway, both hesitant to come any closer. Letting out a sigh, Roman turned back and rested his cheek on his head. He began to gently rock them.

Gradually, the bolts of lightning regressed into little zaps regressed into static electricity crackling up and down his forearms. Patton’s sobbing dissolved into little whimpers as the moments ticked by. When his breathing finally began to even out, he turned his head to blink tiredly at Roman. Roman offered a gentle smile in return.

The door clicked shut, and two pairs of footsteps softly approached. Patton squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face in Roman’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“There’s nothing to apologize for. Breakdowns happen,” Logan pointed out, voice softer than usual.

As he and Virgil settled themselves on the floor next to them, Patton shook his head.

“I lost control,” he huffed. “I shouldn’t have. I should have done better. I’m so, so sorry.”

“Hey, you’re fine,” Virgil stated. “You’ve been doing really well with your semblance lately. One mishap isn’t something to blow out of proportion. No one got hurt; everything’s okay.”

Patton sniffled. “That’s not what I meant.”

Frowning, Roman looked down at him. “Can you explain?”

Another whimper slipped out of him, and he shifted, clinging to Roman even tighter than before. He smooshed his face deeper into his shoulder. “I-I lost control of _me_. I know it’s childish and—and _bratty_ , but I couldn’t stop it! I’m sorry, I tried really, really hard, I swear!”

His voice rose in pitch; Roman quickly reached up to stroke his hair.

“Shh, Patton…”

Virgil scooted forward, putting a hand on Patton’s back and rubbing small circles. “Hey, hey, it’s fine, you’re fine. No one’s angry.”

“Do you know what set it off?” Logan asked.

Shaking his head, Patton turned his face just enough to scrub at his eyes. Virgil raised a skeptical eyebrow at the sight.

“I think I might have an idea,” he said. “I get the feeling you don’t know that our Team Dad’s been under some extra stress lately…”

Roman frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

Patton peeked at Virgil over his shoulder, who returned the look with a pair of raised eyebrows. Weakly grimacing, he dropped his head against Roman’s shoulder.

Sighing, Virgil looked between Roman and Logan. “Has he mentioned that he was nearly kidnapped a few nights ago?”

“What?!”

“What happened?”

“The night you had your shutdown, some woman jumped us on our way out of the library,” Virgil explained. “She said she was taking Patton with her, fight or not, but when she got her hands on him, she got all embarrassed and ran off.”

Logan snapped his gaze over to their leader. “Why didn’t you say anything?!”

“Easy, Jaune Snark,” Roman ordered. “He’s already shaking.”

“Apologies.”

“And that’s on top of his dad trying to force him into talking to them again,” Virgil continued. “Dude won’t leave him alone. He’s been getting some real mean messages from that jerk.”

Patton sniffled. “I got one today,” he whispered.

A glare etched on Virgil’s face. “What’d he say this time?”

Patton shifted to look at his desk, and then his eyes fell to the mess on the floor. “M’scroll’s in there somewhere. I… I don’t want to read it again…”

While Virgil crawled over to sift through the pile, Logan adjusted his glasses.

“Do you believe this… breakdown, was caused by stress from these things?” he asked.

Patton shook his head and shut his eyes. “I just… overreacted. The cafeteria was really irritating me.” He pressed his lips together. “I should’ve kept myself under control. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Virgil called over, Patton’s scroll in hand as he looked through the messages.

“He’s right. From what I understand, what you believe is an overreaction was completely justified.”

Roman looked down at him. “What was going on with the cafeteria that made you so upset?”

“It was just… It was so _loud_ ,” he sighed. “I… I know it sounds stupid, but you know how sometimes, it feels like you’re just constantly yawning in your ears? Like that rattling is just always there for a while, and louder noises make it worse? I can’t handle it sometimes. It’s like… It’s like it _hurts_. And I get really frustrated really fast because it won’t stop, and I know it’s dumb, and I know I should be able to control myself, and I’m really sorry that I wasn’t able to today.”

“…I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that before,” Roman said.

Virgil shook his head. “Me neither.”

Logan furrowed his brow, turning to stare at the carpet. “You said that it was painful?”

He sniffled and nodded. “Mm-hm.”

A frown etched onto Logan’s face, and his eyes flicked over to scan Patton’s belongings.

Roman leaned back just enough to expose Patton’s forehead; he pushed his bangs out of his face and waited for his eyes to meet his. “Hey,” he muttered, “If that ever happens again—that you find you’re getting really overwhelmed, and you start feeling like this again? –You let us know, okay? We’ll do what we can to get you out of there.”

Patton shut his eyes and nodded tiredly. “I just don’t wanna annoy you, or be selfish.”

“Taking care of yourself is _never_ selfish,” Virgil firmly stated.

“He speaks the truth. And you are far from annoying, Padre,” Roman added. “We just want to help you. Are we okay to do that?”

Stifling a yawn, Patton hummed out an agreement. Roman bit back a smile and rubbed a circle on his back.

“Bet you’re pretty tired after that,” he said. “How about we get some water and go to bed?”

“Can’t,” he mumbled. “Too early.”

“You can always take a nap,” Virgil pointed out.

Patton let out a soft whine. “Can’t take naps.”

Humming, Logan began to climb to his feet. “I’m sure that after that, your body will allow you to get ample rest. At the very least, even if you can’t sleep, laying down in a dark, quiet room for a while will still be quite beneficial.” He shot the other two a look. “And we _will_ ensure that our room is dark and quiet, yes?”

“Well, of course,” Roman replied.

“That’s not a problem,” Virgil added.

Roman stood, carefully helping Patton to his feet while he swayed under the wave of exhaustion. As he crawled under his covers, Virgil got up and grabbed a water bottle off of his own desk. He turned around to find Patton already fast asleep.

“’Too early,’ my ass,” Roman muttered.

Snorting, Virgil crouched to pull Patton’s cloak off of the desk and walked over to him; the moment he draped it over him, he tugged it closer and snuggled it into his face.

The light flicked off. Virgil left the water bottle on the floor next to the bed. He heard footsteps near Patton’s desk, and then someone was gathering up the items cluttering the floor.

He flopped onto his bed and stared at the ceiling as the early sunset crept through the cracks in the curtains. Taking a deep breath to calm his thundering heart, he did what he could to force the nerves from the situation far into the back of his mind. Patton’s breakdown was nothing to blow out of proportion. No one got hurt; everything was okay.

…Right?


	5. Shutting Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are getting overwhelming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: arguing, autistic shutdown
> 
> Behind the scenes: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/174307432318/prvl-v2c5-shutting-down-behind-the-scenes

“Come on, Trix, I’m way better than her!”

“Okay, first of all: that’s a lie and you know it. Second of all: trying to sabotage my chances doesn’t change the fact that she doesn’t like you.”

“Oh, now who’s the one lying?!”

Trix let out a huff, burying her face in her arms on top of the dining table. “Guys…”

Keahi gently tapped her shoulder. “Come on, Trix! Tell Abeba that they’re being stupid! Obviously, you like me _way_ more!”

Slamming their hands on the table, Abeba stood to their full height, glowering Keahi down. “Trix likes me plenty! And besides, it’s not about who she likes more—it’s about _how_ she likes us. And I think I win the romance race.”

“You’re not the judge of that.”

“I don’t have to be. It’s plain and obvious. _Fact._ ”

“Can you two, like, not talk about me like I’m not sitting right here?” Trix asked, sitting up and holding her hands out. “Because I _am_ here, I _am_ queer, and I’m _just_ trying to study.”

“Well, maybe if you could give us a straight answer on who you’re taking to the Ball…,” Abeba sighed.

Keahi rolled her eyes. “Literally, there’s not a single one of us here that’s straight. You’re asking the impossible of her.”

“What’s impossible is your chances of being her date.”

“Oh, I see we’ve moved on to talking to ourselves now!”

Trix got to her feet and slammed her book shut. “I’m not taking _either_ of you if you keep fighting like this!”

The two fell silent. Trix almost laughed. It was the first peace and quiet she’d gotten in days.

“Look, folks.”

She sat on the table top; Keahi and Abeba glanced at each other before moving to sit in her field of vision.

“We’ve still got some time before I need to make a decision, and there are a _lot_ of things to do in between then and now. Mainly? More student missions!” She tossed her hands in the air. “This is our _last year_. I don’t want to ruin it because of some stupid dance. You two have been fighting over me for weeks; did you ever stop to think about how much pressure that puts on me to choose which one of you I like more?”

Sheepish expressions formed on both of their faces, and they turned away. Trix sighed, sliding down to straddle the bench.

“I know you two both like me a lot, and I’m really flattered. But it would make things a whole lot easier on me if you forgot about the dance and let me make a choice on my own. You’ve already made your cases, and it’s not like anyone else is rushing to ask me. Relax a bit, will you?”

They both nodded, eyes staying on the ground.

Rolling her eyes, Trix stood, grabbing her textbook before planting a kiss on Keahi’s cheek, and then Abeba’s. “I’ll see you two in class. You know, the reason we’re at Beacon in the first place? Better meet me there, folks.”

They watched her leave; as soon as she stepped out of the doors, Keahi shot Abeba a smug grin.

“She kissed me first.”

“That means nothing.”

* * *

_15 messages from: Thamir_

_Hey_

_I’m really sorry about the other day_

_You were completely right. I really need to start taking care of myself._

_I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. You were only trying to help._

_You have every right to be angry with me._

_I took it too far. I’m sorry._

_Can I buy you coffee to make up for it?_

_Or tea. I hear chamomile’s pretty popular these days._

_Maybe even a book?_

_We can research stuff together, even._

_Maybe if I learn more about autism, it’ll remind me not to blame yours when I’m in the wrong haha_

_Again, I’m really sorry about that._

_Please let me make it up to you._

_Logan?_

_Are you there?_

* * *

Roman leaned back and stretched, flexing his hands as he stared at the ceiling of the library. His hand ached from the furious note-taking he’d been doing while doing his assigned reading. Highlighter markings covered the pages, mixing with the ink smears and pencil markings.

For once, he was more than happy to be working alone. Sneaking off to the library was getting harder and harder as the semester trudged on, but he was managing. That was all he needed.

His scroll buzzed against the table, pulling him out of his thoughts. Letting out a sigh, he snatched it up and answered.

“Hello?”

_“Roman!”_

“Yes, Anole, this is, in fact, my number. Funny how that works. Did you need something?”

_“You need to come to the sparring gym. Like, now.”_

He sighed, leaning forward to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Are you kidding me? I can’t have a match right now, brother dearest. I’m in the middle of—”

_“It’s not for a match.”_

There was a firmness in Anole’s tone that Roman had seldom heard throughout their lives. Concern bubbled in his chest.

“What’s wrong?”

_“Logan’s here. There’s something wrong with him. We don’t know what to do.”_

Roman scrambled to his feet, throwing his notes and books into his satchel. “What’s he doing? Is he yelling, crying—?”

_“No, the opposite. He’s completely unresponsive. Riad and I were coming for a match, and we found him just… collapsed on the ground. He won’t move, he won’t speak—nothing!”_

“I’m on my way. Don’t touch him, keep the gym quiet, try to find a way to turn off the lights. He can hear you; don’t say anything that might make him upset. I’ll be there soon.”

_“Will do.”_

The line shut off. Roman shoved out of the front doors and immediately shot into the sky.

* * *

“Where is he?”

Anole lunged forward and caught the door before it could slam against the frame, shutting it as quietly as it could. As Roman’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, he gestured to the other side of the field.

“He’s next to Riad,” Anole whispered. “Roman, what the hell is going on?”

He ignored the question, instead choosing to hop into the air and fly towards them.

Riad’s head lifted at the breeze his wings created. Scrambling to his feet, he squinted and carefully walked forward. “Roman? Is that you?”

His feet touched the ground. “Yes.”

“Thank god. Do you know what to do?”

“I have an idea,” he replied. He put a hand on his chest and gently pushed him aside as he hurried over to the figure curled up on the ground.

The scene was similar to the one he’d been greeted with upon returning from classes a while back. Logan was stiff. His arms wrapped tightly around his head, covering his face; Roman could just barely see in between them to discover that his eyes were screwed shut. Shallow and shaky breaths were just barely passing through his slightly parted lips.

Roman kneeled. “Logan?”

His eyelids scrunched a little more.

“Lo, I’m going to take you back to the dorm. Is there anything I can do that will make it easier on you?”

There was a beat where nothing happened, and then his lips twitched. He sucked in a breath that was just slightly bigger than the ones before; no noise followed. The tiniest of headshakes gave Roman an answer instead. He could practically hear his muscles creaking at the movement from how taut they were.

Carefully, Roman moved forward and tugged Logan’s arms away to wrap them around his neck. He snaked his arms under him and lifted him to rest against his chest. When he stood, he looked over to where Anole and Riad were watching silently.

“Thank you for letting me know he was here,” he whispered.

Riad slowly nodded. “Is he gonna be okay?”

Glancing down at Logan’s tight grimace, Roman held back a sigh.

“Eventually.”

He carefully walked past the two and out of the doors.

* * *

By the time Roman was able to shoot Patton and Virgil a text about the situation, Logan was gradually beginning to pull out of it.

No longer did it feel as though he would vomit if he moved in the slightest, even though the room continued to spin. The vice grip in his chest was disappearing as well. It radiated through his body, causing his taut muscles to slowly relax; first his shoulders, then his abdomen, then his neck, all until the only tense part of him remaining was his jaw. The static screaming in his mind dulled to the buzzing of the lights in the hall and Roman’s soft breathing on the floor by his bed.

He cracked his eyes open. His jaw unclenched to allow him to suck in the first deep breath in what felt like hours.

Roman’s head snapped up. “Lo?”

Logan tried to reply, but his vocal chords refused to make a sound, and all that came out was a rough breath. His tongue glued itself to the roof of his mouth the second he shut it. Squeezing his eyes shut, he settled for lifting a shaky hand just enough for Roman to see it.

There was shuffling. “Can you sit up yet? I’ve got some water for you.”

He carefully did as told, and the mattress dipped as Roman pushed a cup into his hands. Logan took a sip. It took him longer than he would have liked to even remember how to swallow.

“Are you starting to feel any better?” Roman whispered.

Logan nodded, mouth resting as he gently gnawed on the edge of the cup.

There was a beat of silence. Logan looked up to see Roman staring thoughtfully at the floor.

“…I don’t mean to frighten you in any way, but… Are you able to speak?” he asked. “I think we need to talk about this.”

Normally, Logan’s curiosity would be enough to make him a little nervous. He’d gotten enough lectures over the years from miscommunication to understand that “we need to talk” meant “you’ve done something socially unacceptable that you didn’t understand that you need to be punished for even though you had no way of knowing it was wrong beforehand”. On any other day, Logan’s mind would be racing to figure out where the wrong words had fallen.

At the moment, however, he was too exhausted to care. He simply shook his head and weakly prepared to be reprimanded.

Roman pulled his scroll out of his pocket and slid it open, tapping on it for a moment before holding it out to Logan. He shifted the cup to hold it with one hand and accepted it. A notepad app was open, with text already on it.

_–We can use this to talk, then. This is the second shutdown you’ve had this semester, right? Is something happening that you haven’t told us? You have your right to privacy, of course, but I want to help and can’t if you don’t allow me to._

Sucking on his cup, Logan slowly began to tap out his reply.

_–It is. I admittedly don’t know what is causing this, although two shutdowns within a semester really is not that often._

He passed it back. Roman read it over, and the process began again.

_–Is there anything stressing you out more than usual? Homesickness, Thamir…?_

_–Classes._

_–Classes?_

_–Yes. I’ve noticed that I’ve started to do more poorly than I have in the past. You’ve been getting higher scores on tests and projects than I have. It’s possible that I may be entering an autistic burnout, and the idea of that is very worrisome._

_–Okay, well, at least you’ve been excelling in our fighting classes. That’s something to be proud of._

Logan’s stomach twisted. He bit down hard on the cup, trying to force away the newly formed lump in his throat. As his lips twitched into a frown, he pulled his knees to his chest and typed through stinging eyes.

_–Please don’t suggest that_

As he passed the scroll back, he tucked his arms into himself and rested his forehead on his knees. He chewed heavily on the cup. The smoothness of the plastic did wonders to calm his emotions. Hesitantly, he began to rock himself as subtley as he possibly could.

Roman tapped the scroll against his hand.

_–Do you not think you’re doing well? Logan, you’ve been absolutely destoying everyone in the class (except Pyrrha, but honestly, she’s a goddess, I don’t think anyone could ever win against her)_

A quiet, dry sob made its way out of him before he could stop it. His fingers flew across the keyboard.

_–I know I’m doing well that’s the problem I’ve been focusing on fighting too much to even study and my grades are suffering and it’s causing me to have shutdowns now because I don’t know how to balance I’ve never known how to balance I don’t know how to act normal or at least socially acceptable while trying to keep up with classes and training I don’t know how to do this Roman everyone needs me to be the smart one but I’m not I’m a fraud I couldn’t even protect you last semester when the White Fang came for you how in the world am I supposed to be a good Huntsman if I can’t even protect my friends I don’t know how to do this I don’t know anything anymore_

He practically chucked the scroll back at Roman before pressing his eyes into his knees so hard that he saw colors. Sniffles threatened to pull out of him, but there were no tears to accompany them. Logan wanted to make himself as small as possible, to hide himself until the world went away.

It was a long moment before Roman replied.

_–Logan, I had no idea you were feeling like this. I am truly so sorry that the mess I got into has upset you this much. None of that was your fault in any way. The White Fang is very powerful. How else do you think they’ve made such a name for themselves? We’re students. We can’t single-handedly bring down an entire terrorist organization, and we don’t have to be perfect. YOU don’t have to be perfect, nor do you have to be perfectly normal. No one is normal. Not even Team BYRD was! And if those goddesses couldn’t be, why should you have to? There’s nothing wrong with being different, Logan._

_–I’ve been lying to you all semester. I haven’t been going to the library. I’m sorry._

_–Well, then I owe you an apology as well. I’ve also been untruthful. I’ve been sneaking off to the library every day._

_–You have?_

_–Yes. Admittedly, that run in with the White Fang has made me… A little nervous about fighting, to be perfectly honest. I threw myself into studying and lied to you all because I didn’t want you to worry._

_–But you said you were sparring with your siblings the entire break._

_–No, I said they had ASKED me to spar over break. I never said that I agreed to them. I never lied to you all about that._

_–That’s still a lie. It’s called a lie of ommission._

_–Oh._

_–I suppose I would be a hypocrite if I just “called you out” and left it, however. I committed a character lie when you suggested I had been studying over break._

_–Did you not?_

_–No. I sparred with my father and stepmother nearly every day. I paid no interest in studying, but now it seems I’m paying the price._

_–They’re both Hunters, correct?_

_–Yes, and they’re both exceptionally skilled, Father especially. He had to learn to be able to keep up with Mother when she was still alive. I’d like to think I can hold my own against him, even if he still defeats me every time. My record is nearly ten minutes before he pinned me._

_–No wonder you’ve won every sparring match we’ve had! I can hardly last five against my siblings, let alone my parents!_

_–There’s also the fact that you haven’t been training, and the lights in the sparring gym are quite bright. I don’t consider myself to be a great fighter, and you shouldn’t discredit yourself because you’re at a disadvantage. I can hardly focus some days. I can’t imagine how painful those lights must be to your eyes._

Logan handed the scroll back, slowly lifting his head finally. He blinked blearily as the blurring started to fade to its normal levels. Stars danced in his vision a bit, but he paid them no mind.

As soon as Roman had read over the message, he stood and hurried over to his desk. Logan raised an eyebrow and listened to the sounds of items shifting around.

His mouth opened before he could think about it, and a little “Um?” croaked out. Roman turned to look at him, shuffling pausing.

“Is your voice back?” he asked, keeping his own quiet.

Logan carefully thought about his wording. “Think so,” he whispered. “Partial.”

The shuffling began again as Roman turned back around. Logan heard the distinct sound of glasses legs clacking together, and then Roman was walking back.

He pressed the item into his hands. Logan squinted his eyes to inspect them. A frown etched onto his face.

“Sunglasses.”

Roman sat on the bed. “Yes. One of the things I’ve been reading up on and studying has been autism. Originally, it was only going to be for a day or so, but…” He let out a huff. “Gods, Lo, there’s _so much_ to learn about it. I had no idea there was so much!”

He quirked an eyebrow at him. “S’ not news t’me.”

“…I suppose that would make sense, wouldn’t it?” Roman muttered. “Anyway, one of the things I’ve been reading a lot about lately is sensory sensitivities. I know you’ve mentioned in the past that lights can hurt when they’re too bright, and… Well. I know you probably are already aware, and I could be wrong, but it seemed to me that you have sensitivity to light, so… Yeah. You can have them. Maybe they’ll help.”

Logan stared at him for a long moment. His eyes drifted down.

“…Why?”

Roman frowned. “Why what?”

“Research. Help.” He held up the glasses. “These?”

“Because I care about you. I want to do what I can to help.”

“Why?” Furrowing his brow, he pointed at him. “Not doctor, nor family. What… benefits?”

There was a beat of silence. Roman shifted closer and laid a firm hand on Logan’s knee.

“I benefit,” he said, “From seeing my friend have less to stress about.”

“Aren’t… Aren’t you worried?” Logan asked. “About getting something wrong, making it worse? You haven’t been trained.”

Roman hummed, pulling his hand back. “Well, if I get something wrong, you can correct me, yes? I know I’ll never fully understand, but this is a step in the right direction, right?”

Logan’s throat began to tighten again. His eyes flicked between Roman’s legs and the sunglasses in his hands; eyes burning and vision blurring, he held the sunglasses out and stared at the blankets.

“Can’t.”

A hand pushed them towards him. “I insist.”

“No—Roman—” He swallowed thickly and lowered his knees. “Torius gave them. You’re already doing so much—”

“—Torius brings us gifts from every mission he goes on,” Roman interrupted. “I’m sure he’s more than okay with me gifting them to you.”

“But you admire Remy Anholts—”

“And his sunglasses aren’t that expensive. Besides, I have plenty of posters and other merch of him.”

Logan’s nose scrunched. “Why?”

Roman turned to blink at him; a stifled grin broke onto his face. He snorted before bursting into a fit of giggles. Logan frowned, but before he could question it, Roman pulled the sunglasses out of his hands and shoved them onto his teammate’s face.

“Oh, you look just like him!” he teased.

Logan scowled, but left them on regardless. As much as he hated to admit it, they _were_ significantly darker than most pairs he’d tried before…

“I… Thank you.”

The giggles slowed to a stop. Logan flicked his eyes up in time to watch a soft smile etch onto Roman’s face.

“It’s no problem. I hope they help.”

He reached up and adjusted them. “I believe they will be adequate.”

Roman’s smile brightened for a second, and then he patted the mattress and stood.

“Well, I think it’s time I let you lay down for a while,” he said. “I think I’ll go join Riad and Anole in the sparring gym. Maybe we can spar sometime after you’ve rested up?”

Logan nodded. “Perhaps we could study together afterwards.”

“That sounds wonderful.” Roman opened the door and stepped out, leaning in just far enough that his head and shoulders were still in the room. “Rest well, Dreamy Remy.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Note taken.”

Roman flicked off the light and shut the door, encasing Logan in darkness. He set aside his water and lay. His hand drifted up to brush against the legs of the sunglasses still tucked against his face; a soft smile formed on his lips.

Quietly, he rolled onto his side and let his eyes flutter shut.


	6. Proposal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Vytal Festival Ball is rapidly approaching, and the only way to ask out a love interest is to ask them out in style.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: fighting, arguing, mild faunus discrimination
> 
> Behind the Scenes: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/174531394783/prvl-v2c6-proposal-behind-the-scenes

“I swear to the gods, dude, chew your food!”

Riad froze, half a pancake hanging out of his mouth as he stared up at Anole. “Whufor?”

He threw his spoon down into his oatmeal. “What do you mean, ‘what for’?! You’re gonna choke!”

“So?”

Across the table, Bora snorted into her coffee. “Roman’s gonna find you unnattractive if he catches you doing that.”

“Don’t bring _that_ into this…”

Riad’s mouth dropped open, and the pancake limply flopped back onto the plate. Anole let out a groan while Bora and Marjani dissolved into giggles.

“Man, forget my brother, _I’m_ finding you unnattractive!” he exclaimed.

“Are you saying you… _normally_ find me attractive?” Riad asked. He waggled his eyebrows.

Marjani stabbed her eggs. “Must be a family thing!”

Anole rolled his eyes. “I don’t like dudes, dude.”

“For shame, we could have had a team of just gay couples,” Bora sighed.

Humming, Riad cut off a piece of his food. “I hear amber’s a pretty popular color among the gays these days…”

“We still make up the whole acronym. It can still be popular.”

The doors slammed open. Team AMBR all flinched; Riad immediately began hacking.

“What did I tell you? _What_ did I tell you?”

Anole passed Riad his cup of juice and pounded on his back as Marjani craned her neck to look at the entrance.

“Is that… Virgil?”

The other three turned.

Sure enough, Virgil was walking through the tables, but he wasn’t wearing his normal armor, nor was he in uniform. A solid black onesie clung on him today, complete with gloves and boots that were just slightly darker. Behind him, a cloak flapped in the breeze he was creating as he quickly strode across the cafeteria. The chain holding it in place jingled with each step that he took.

And each step that he took brought him closer to the person he was staring at: Riad.

The moment he got close enough, Virgil reached out and took the back of Riad’s shirt, pulling him to his feet and out of the bench. The juice in his cup threatened to slosh over the edges; as soon as it was secure, Anole narrowed his eyes.

“What are you doing?”

“Riad Airtafae, I cannot hide it anymore,” Virgil hollered in a deadpan. “My love for you has grown too large to contain. I have come to take you away somewhere where you can be mine, only mine, and no one else can ever have you. We’ll go far away where no one will find us.”

A knowing smirk formed on Riad’s face; he leaned back and crossed an arm over his chest. “Is that so?”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “No night in shining armor can save you now.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it!”

The doors slammed open again, and Roman sailed in. He twirled in the air as he drew his sword and did a little flip before he landed on the ground and pointed the blade at Virgil.

“Oh, no,” Virgil said. “The Great Roman Reptilia. You won’t defeat me this time.”

“Ha! That’s what you think, you fiend! Unhand him at once!” Roman yelled.

“Never. I love him, and he loves me just as much. Isn’t that right, Riad.”

Roman stalked forward a step or two. “You expect me to believe a man as beautiful as this could ever love a villain as evil as you? Riad Airtafae has a heart as gold as a dragon’s horde! I will _never_ let someone the likes of you tarnish such beauty!”

Virgil’s eyebrow twitched. “You dare call me a villain? All I want is love. How can love be bad?”

“It’s not love if you provide them no other choices! Now, let him go! Let him be free to choose who he wants to love!”

Eyes narrowing, Virgil kept his grip on Riad. A smirk started to form on his lips.

“Funny, considering that as soon as this is over, you’re only gonna give him one option,” he sneered.

Roman froze. His eyes flicked back and forth between Virgil and Riad. Riad simply took an innocent sip of his juice.

“Virgil,” Roman whispered, “That wasn’t in the script…”

“Oh, I’m sorry! Guess I’m just so used to being called a villain that it felt too natural to be faked!”

“That’s not why I asked you to do this and you know it,” Roman hissed.

He let out a laugh. “Right, you made me do this because you don’t like me. Where’s the surprise in that, though? Gotta keep it subtle!”

“I _chose_ you because you’re aromantic,” Roman shot back. “Although, now that we’re here, you are seeming to fit the part quite well!”

Virgil growled. He snatched Riad’s juice out of his hands and threw it in Roman’s face.

The cafeteria fell silent, save for a few gasps; a beat of silence followed. Virgil raised his eyebrows and smirked.

“Oops.”

Roman glowered. Without breaking eye contact, he pulled Anole’s bowl of oatmeal off of the table and promptly dumped it into Virgil’s hair. As it trickled down the sides of his face, Roman grinned at him.

“Wow, it’s almost as pale as you are.”

Virgil dove at him. He shot into the air.

Roman formed a knife in his free hand with a flick of his wrist, flinging it down as soon as it was tangible; as Virgil somersaulted, it stabbed into his cape and pinned him to the floor. Cursing under his breath, he yanked at it to no avail.

There was a battle cry above as Roman held out his sword and flew towards him. At a last second decision, Virgil yanked the nearest tray off of the table next to him and held it over his head. A clang echoed through the cafeteria when the metals made contact.

Finally, with one last tug, the cape ripped down the side, granting Virgil his freedom. He rolled to the side just as Roman threw the sword down again; Virgil swung his leg into his chin just as he was looking up. Stumbling back a couple of steps, Roman let out a growl. Virgil threw the tray in his face and sprinted down the aisle.

A blast of wind followed, and he glanced over to find Roman flying towards him, blade extended. Virgil slammed his hands on a table and launched himself up. As soon as his feet were on the top, he crouched and grabbed a pair of plates to frisbee. Roman sliced through them like they were nothing. He swung the sword, but Virgil jumped and pushed him down, using the momentum to flip to the floor.

Roman twirled and hovered, glaring down at Virgil. “So you want to play dirty, do you?!”

“Like you didn’t start it,” Virgil shot back.

Sheathing his sword, Roman lowered and soared down the row of tables, grabbing and flinging every dish that had any sort of food on it. They came in so fast that Virgil could do nothing to stop them; each plate and bowl knocked him back a step, and he could feel the blows even through his aura. When Roman reached the end of the table, he flew up, held out his leg, and shot towards his teammate.

As soon as he wiped the cereal out of his eyes, he looked up.

Virgil gasped and flipped backwards, just barely dodging the kick with a backhand spring; as soon as he regained his balance, he balled his hand into a fist and threw it at Roman. Roman grabbed it and shoved it down to grab at his cape, but Virgil swung his leg around to knock his feet out from under him. He jumped just in time to dodge and spun as he flew up and over Virgil’s head. As he was dropping to the ground, he thrust Virgil over him and into the air.

Roman shot up, drawing his sword and aiming it towards Virgil. He shot a few solid black bullets; when they hit and Virgil began to hover in the air, Roman put his feet on the ceiling and launched himself towards him. He smashed the blunt end of the sword into his stomach, and then flung himself back and forth and back and forth to do the same.

For the final blow, he twirled around to slam the heel of his boot into Virgil’s chest; he crashed into the floor as Roman used the momentum to flip and land protectively in front of Riad.

Roman panted, sword still tight in his grip. Virgil groaned as he began to sit up.

Behind him, there was a giggle.

Eyes widening, Roman turned around. Riad put a hand over his wide grin for a beat before he walked forward with open arms. Roman sheathed his sword and opened his own.

“Oh, my hero,” Riad laughed as he tucked himself into his grip. “How can I ever repay you for defeating such a monster in my honor?”

He glanced over Roman’s shoulder to shoot a wink at Virgil. Roman took a deep breath and offered Riad a nervous smile.

“Go to the dance with me?”

Riad’s bottom lip poked out for a split second, and then he reached up to pull Roman’s head down. He planted a kiss on his forehead and beamed at him.

“I’d love to.”

Roman’s heart fluttered.

Across the cafeteria, someone began to clap. Another person joined in, and then another, and another, until the room was filled with applause. Riad and Roman hugged each other close before pulling apart and looking around at everyone.

Roman turned to grin at Virgil, but he was gone. The flash of a ripped cape fluttering away caught his eye as it slipped out of the doors.

Before he had the chance to think about it, Anole let out a loud groan and buried his face in his hands.

“You are the most _embarrassing_ little brother I could have _ever_ received!”

“Aw, shut up, Anole! They’re adorable!” Marjani squealed.

“Quite the memorable way to ask someone on a date,” Bora said. “I’ll give you that.”

Anole huffed. “Okay, but there’s memorable ways to ask someone out _without_ making a scene like that.”

“Yeah, but those are boring.”

A hand slapped onto Roman’s back, followed by a laugh he hadn’t heard in what felt like ages.

“Come on, have you ever known Roman to do anything without making a scene?”

“Yang!” Roman exclaimed. He looked over his shoulder at the shock of golden hair; beside her, her younger sister stood with eggs covering her uniform. “And Ruby! You… Were in the line of fire, I see…”

Yang reached up and yanked him down into a headlock. “Looks like you finally broke that losing streak you’ve been stuck in this semester, huh? That fight was _amazing!_ It was like watching you fight back at Signal, when we were breaking hearts and legs every day!”

“Oh, and the way you used that Gravity Dust at the end was incredible!” Ruby squeaked. “It’s too bad Virgil didn’t have his weapon, or else that fight would have been insane!”

Roman scoffed. “Please, that glorified stick of his has nothing on Autumn Amaryllis!”

Stammering, Ruby stared at him with wide eyes. “Glorified stick?! Have you _seen_ the way he uses is in battle?! There’s so much more to it than that!”

“I suppose he can pole vault with the best of them with that thing,” Anole laughed.

Roman slipped out of Yang’s grip, pulling Riad under his arm as soon as he was free. “Well, if you’re so interested, then maybe you two can gossip the night away at the dance this weekend while the rest of us enjoy ourselves,” he said.

Gasping, Ruby’s eyes lit up; Yang put a hand on her chest.

“No! The point of the dance it to take a break from fighting!” Yang firmly stated. “If Blake can’t skip to keep working, _you_ can’t use it to talk weapons!”

“Weiss put you in charge of signing people in! You can’t stop me!”

“I can once everyone gets there!”

As the two began to bicker, Riad hummed and rested his head on Roman’s shoulder. “Hey, speaking of, where _did_ Virgil go? He seemed kind of upset…”

Roman sighed. “I don’t know,” he said. “He’s dealt with worse, though. I’m sure he’s fine.”

A little twist in his gut said otherwise. Roman chose to ignore it in favor of pressing a kiss onto Riad’s forehead.

* * *

“…don’t know why I even _bother_ trying to be friends with him—!”

Virgil kicked the boot onto the floor, landing sideways next to where the gloves and the cape had been strewn; Patton crouched and set it upright before kneeling and frowning up at him.

“You know he didn’t mean it like that, Virge,” he sighed. “He said it himself!”

He flailed his right leg, trying to work the other boot off. “That doesn’t mean the other students aren’t—gonna— _notice!_ ”

On the last word, the shoe flew off and sailed across the room; it hit the edge of the bookshelf and tumbled out of the open window. Virgil growled and ran a hand through his hair.

Logan turned in his seat. “Virgil, you simply helped Roman ask his romantic interest to the ball. I don’t understand how that would make others believe you’re some sort of monster.”

“ _Because_ , Logan, there’s a lot of people here that know me from Sanctum! If any of them thought I’d changed, they’re gonna hear about this and start spreading how I was _there_ , and then everyone’s gonna know!” he snapped, whirling around to glare at him. “Roman might have made me do it because I’m aromantic, but no one else knows that! For all they know, that—that _reptile_ picked me to pick on because he thinks I would do something like that in real life!”

“You watch what names you’re using there, Mister,” Patton growled.

Virgil took a deep breath and let out a groan; he sunk to the floor and put his head in his hands. “Sorry.”

“This seems to be causing quite a lot of emotional distress,” Logan stated.

“ _Gods,_ it was so embarrassing,” he moaned. “It was worse than what happened over break…”

Patton winced. “That bad?”

Logan frowned. “What happened over break?”

“Well, Virgil—”

“No, no, _no!_ We are _not_ getting into that right now!” Virgil exclaimed, snapping his head up. “We’ve made it this far into the semester without anyone else finding out about it, and I would _really_ appreciate it if we could keep it that way.”

Patton crawled over and settled himself next to his partner. “Alright, you’ve had enough embarrassment for one day, I guess.”

He wrapped his arms around Virgil’s shoulder and hugged him tight. Virgil put a hand on Patton’s arm as he let out a breath and dropped his head against the leg of his desk.

“I don’t even understand why he had to do _that_ just to ask a boy we all know he’s going to get to a stupid dance that’s not going to matter in the end anyways.”

Gasping, Patton pulled back and looked at him. “Of course it’s going to matter!” he exclaimed. “We only get one chance to make memories of our first Vytal Festival Ball! Don’t you want to make it special so you can look back and say you had fun?”

“I don’t plan on having _any_ memories of our first Vytal Festival Ball,” Virgil stated, turning to look at him. “I’m not going.”

“What?! Virgil, you _have_ to! School dances are important!”

“Yeah, and how would I know that?! I skipped them all at Sanctum ‘cause everyone thought I was gonna ruin everything; why would I go to one at Beacon if the same thing’s going to happen?!” he snapped.

Patton pouted; his eyes darted across the room. “Logan, tell him—!”

“Homeschooled.”

“Oh, right.”

Virgil scoffed. “Jealous.”

Logan raised an eyebrow at him. “You shouldn’t be.”

“Wait! Logan, that means this is going to be your first school dance ever!” Patton yelled. “That’s so exciting! You _are_ going, aren’t you?!”

Sighing, Logan rolled his eyes. “You know, Thamir just asked me the same thing last night. I understand that it’s seen as an important event, but I really don’t see the appeal in it. There are going to be a lot of people, bright lights, loud noises…”

“But you’re with your friends!” Patton interrupted. “It’s fun!”

“I’m going to remind you once again: the dance is the night before our job shadowing mission,” Logan stated. “We need to be rested. I’m not going to exhaust myself on a pointless social gathering that will do nothing but overwhelm me when I could be preparing to go into the field for the first time.”

A frown etched onto Patton’s face. “So… That’s a no?”

“A very firm one.”

“Are _you_ going?” Virgil asked. “I mean, with Logan and I staying here, and the Kings of Being Extra going together…”

Patton grinned; a mischievous glint flickered in his eye.

“Roman and I have a bet, remember?” he said. “I already promised him that me and Li are gonna be there! Even if I hadn’t, I’ve never missed a school dance yet. I’m not about to start now.”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Have you even asked Li yet?”

Shaking his head, Patton glanced over at the window. “I’m asking him tonight. Melina and I were talking yesterday, and she said they were going to be at the library all day today. She told me to meet them there around six.”

“Well, good luck,” Virgil said.

“Don’t screw it up,” Logan added.

Patton laughed and waved him off. “I won’t! Trust me, Li and I are going to have a blast at the dance. And you guys will, too, if you change your minds!”

“We won’t.”

“Well, then…” Patton paused, staring at the ceiling in thought. “I guess Roman, Riad, Li and I will have to have twice as much fun for you two.”

Logan turned back to his work with a nod. “You do that. Meanwhile, Virgil and I will enjoy a nice, quiet evening in and hope you two don’t expend yourselves too much to be exhausted in the morning.”

“It’ll be a blast!” Patton cheered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so! Quick note, there is not going to be an update next week! I want to spend some time trying to get a few chapters ahead written, since I've been doing a chapter a week these past couple of weeks. I really want these chapters to be good and not rushed, so, mid-volume break! See you on the 18th!


	7. Move and Groove

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s the night of the Vytal Festival Ball. While Patton and Roman head off to have the night of their lives, Logan and Virgil prepare to spend a quiet night in. Not everything is going as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok listen I know it's been a month since the last update but I have an explanation for yinz at the end of the chapter
> 
> Behind the Scenes: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/175511856203/prvl-v2c7-move-and-groove-behind-the-scenes
> 
> Warnings: mentions of the death of a sibling, arguing, mild swearing

“And… There! Nice and even!”

Roman stepped back and turned Patton around to look at the mirror propped up on his desk between the strings of fairy lights; Patton grinned as he stared at the powder blue bow tie now securely tied on him.

Letting out a squeal, his hands began to flap. “Thank you so much, Roman!”

“It’s my pleasure, Padre,” Roman laughed, adjusting his own dark red tie in the mirror. “Anything to ensure we’ll be the two most dashing first-years at this dance!”

He grabbed his snow white suit jacket off of his chair and threw it over his shoulders. His wings slipped through the holes in the back, gold lace shimmering from where it was sewn on the borders, and he stretched to fasten the buttons.

Logan tapped his pencil against his desk, raising an eyebrow from where he sat sideways in his chair. His work had been forgotten in favor of watching his teammates get ready for the past few minutes. “You’ll remember not to strain yourselves too much, correct?” he asked. “And to come back at an early enough hour to get optimal sleep for tomorrow?”

Roman groaned. “Logan, it’s a dance, not a seven hour body-building marathon. We will return after the dance has finished, however late at night or early in the morning that may be.”

“Don’t forget that we—”

“Have our job shadowing mission tomorrow?” he interrupted. “You’ve only mentioned it a hundred times this evening.”

Pressing his lips together, Logan shook his head at them. “I’m only trying to make sure we’ll be able to do the best we possibly can.”

“It’ll be fine, Lo!” Patton exclaimed, slipping into his black jacket. “Every upper classman we’ve talked to said they handled it when they were first-years.”

“And it’s not like our mission’s going to be anything too difficult,” Roman added. “They won’t let us do anything even _nearly_ deadly. Heck, the adventures we went on last semester are probably more dangerous than anything we’ll see tomorrow!”

Logan let out a sigh and turned back to his desk. “Whether or not the mission is dangerous has nothing to do with it. We’re being graded on this, and yes, while we may have handled situations in the past, that doesn’t mean we’ll perform as exceptionally when one half of our team is more exhausted than the other. However, seeing as I can’t change your minds, I do hope you’ll enjoy yourselves tonight.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that,” Roman replied, smirk etching onto his face. He looked at Patton. “Are you ready?”

“Almost,” Patton said, turning towards his desk. “I just want to eat one last cookie—”

Roman grabbed his arm before he could take another step. “You’ve already had three! Come now, there’s going to be food at the dance. Don’t you want to eat that instead?”

“Oh… Alright,” he sighed. His shoulders dropped, but he looked to Logan and forced a smile back onto his face. “You can eat as many as you want, okay?”

“Thank you for the offer, Patton, but once again, I do not indulge in sweets very often,” Logan said, eyes glued to his work.

Patton slowly nodded. He looked to his left. “Virgil? The same goes to you, too. You know that, right?”

The mass of blankets shifted for the first time in what seemed like hours. Virgil’s face peeked out to look at Patton; there were bags under his eyes that were almost as dark as the eye shadow he wore every day. His eyes flicked to the container on Patton’s desk, and then he dropped his head back onto the pillow. Letting out a sigh, his attention focused back to the scroll in his hand.

“Thanks, Dad,” he mumbled. “Have fun.”

Patton looked at Roman, who shook his head and opened the door. “We’ll see you two after the dance,” he said. “Make sure Mountain Glum over there doesn’t spend his whole night moping, Logan.”

“Have a good time,” Patton added, offering a wave and a smile.

“You too.”

“Enjoy yourselves.”

The door shut quietly behind them. Virgil’s hand dropped onto his mattress.

“’Mountain Glum’?” he repeated.

Logan glanced at him over his shoulder. “I believe it was a wordplay on Mountain Glenn,” he explained.

“The hell is that?”

There was a pause, and then Logan turned around in his seat, resting his arm on the back of the chair. “You don’t know about Mountain Glenn?”

Virgil craned his neck to look behind him. “I mean, I’ve heard of it…”

“Odd. It seems like a subject that would fascinate you. Mountain Glenn was originally supposed to be an extension of the City of Vale, but it was overrun by Grimm before it could be finished. Countless people died.”

Face paling, he rolled to lay on his back. “Why the hell would that fascinate me? That’s terrifying!”

“Oh. I, uh. I apologize,” Logan stammered. “It just… seems that you enjoy things of the dark and sinister genre.”

“Yeah, when it’s, like, books or ghosts, not real life events that got real people killed,” Virgil shot back. “Especially when those real life events are similar to how my little sister died!”

It was Logan’s turn to pale. His mouth opened and shut for a beat, and then he turned back to his desk.

“That was… a grave oversight on my part,” he slowly said. “I’m sorry.”

Virgil let out a sigh and rolled onto his side again. He swallowed thickly in an attempt to curb the nausea creeping up his throat; his heart, while it had already been pounding for no real reason before Patton and Roman had left, was now thundering so loudly he could hardly hear himself think. His hands shook as he tried to look through the web pages on his scroll.

“…It’s fine. Sorry I got mad.”

“You had every right.”

They fell quiet. The only noise in the dorm was the scratching of pencil on paper and the occasional shifting of blankets.

* * *

“Oh, you are _rocking_ that suit, Roman!”

Roman laughed and did a twirl as he and Patton stepped through the front doors of the ballroom. “Do you like it? I thought the popular black suit would clash with my wings too much.”

Yang beamed as she scribbled on the notebook on the podium in front of her. “It looks amazing! That lace on your wingholes was a nice touch.”

“Thank you! You know, I thought it would be too extra, but Patton was actually the one to convince me to go through with it!”

Patton scratched at the back of his neck, nervous laugh slipping out of him as he searched the crowd. “Oh, come on, you and I both know you would’ve gone through with it either way.”

“Nonsense!”

Scoffing, Yang shook her head and looked down. “Well, you guys are all signed in. Try not to break too many hearts tonight, yeah?”

She shot a wink at Roman; he rolled his eyes and waved her off. “Oh, I suppose I’ll limit myself to only one or two…”

“Thanks, Yang,” Patton said.

As soon as they stepped past the podium, Roman sucked in a soft gasp and placed his hand on Patton’s shoulder. Patton blinked, but his eyes drifted to where Roman was staring.

On the edge of the crowd, Riad stood, back against the wall as he looked around. His suit was a deep, blood red, and it was perfectly pressed without a crease in sight. A cup of punch sat in his grip; he swirled it around before taking a swig. The balloons above him bopped against the back of his head, and he calmly pushed them away without missing a beat.

“Oh, there’s Riad,” Roman sighed. “I’ll catch up with you later, Patton, but I do wish to spend a little time with my dashing date. How about you let me know when Li gets here, and then we can decide who wins the bet, alright?”

Patton pulled away from Roman’s touch, flashing a bright grin at him. “That’s fine.”

“Wonderful! Good luck with him!”

Roman rushed into the crowd, leaving Patton by himself in the midst of the other students. As the white suit disappeared amongst the black and rainbow clothing, the smile slowly dissolved. A hand reached over to twiddle with the seam of his suit; his shoulders dropped.

“Yeah… thanks.”

He rubbed his hand up his arm before taking a deep breath and heading to the punch bowl, eyes scanning the room once more.

A shock of red hair and a puff of green locks caught his attention. Patton smiled and pushed towards them.

* * *

A knock on the door broke the calm silence of the evening.

Logan snapped his head up, breaking out of his studying trance at the sound. He blinked himself back into reality before turning to look at Virgil; his back was turned to him, but his face was peering over his shoulder to look back. His brow furrowed, and he shrugged, leaving Logan to do the same.

The knock sounded again. Logan pushed out of his chair and opened it.

He blinked.

“Oh. Um, good evening, Thamir,” he said.

Thamir gave a half-hearted smile, one hand stuffed in his sweatpants pocket while the other ran through his slightly greasy hair. “Hey, Lo.”

“I… thought you were going to the dance,” Logan stated. “Are you running late?”

“No, no, I, uh… I decided I’m not going,” Thamir replied. He shrugged. “Kinda tired, didn’t want to be too tired for tomorrow, you know.”

Logan perked up. “That’s what I’ve been saying. It was foolish of them to put it on the night before our job shadowing!”

A laugh slipped out of Thamir. “Yeah, I’ve heard you say that _multiple_ times now.”

“Oh. My apologies.”

There was a beat of silence. Thamir’s hand fell to fiddle with the strings of his hoodie.

“Um… So the reason I’m here,” he began. “I was, uh, I was thinking that, y’know, since neither of us are at the dance… I know I offered to buy you coffee a couple of weeks ago, to make up for me yelling at you. Would you… like to go to Vale right now? I know it’s late, but it won’t take long, and there’s decaf coffee, or if you want something else, I can buy that for you.”

Logan blinked. “Oh. Um, sure.”

Shifting blankets sounded behind him. He glanced over his shoulder in time to watch Virgil pull the blankets up to his chin.

“Virgil? Would you like to come along?”

There was a pause. Virgil’s head lifted.

“Huh?”

“Thamir and I are going into Vale. Would you like to join us?”

His eyes flickered between Logan and Thamir. While his teammate was offering a questioning look, his head tilted and eyebrow raised, Thamir’s demeanor was slowly deflating. He watched his eyes fall to the floor and his nervous energy dissolve into the empty one he’d been carrying around all semester.

Pressing his lips together, he dropped his head back down and let out a soft sigh.

“…Nah. You guys go on ahead,” he said. “Have fun.”

Logan frowned. “Are you sure? You’ve hardly left the dorm for anything but classes this week. I think it would be quite beneficial to your mental health if you came along.”

He looked at Thamir in time to see sagging shoulders lift, and a pout morph into furrowed brows; Thamir glanced at Logan, Virgil, and then the floor. Logan raised an eyebrow.

“Is it alright with you if he comes with us?” Logan asked.

Slowly, Thamir nodded. His eyes rose to look over Virgil.

“…Yeah,” he finally said. “Yeah, it’ll be fun. I can buy you a drink, too, if you want.”

Virgil buried his face in his pillow. “I don’t know…”

Holding back a sigh, Logan crossed his arms. “Virgil. Please?”

Virgil was still for a long moment. When he finally picked up his head, he looked between Thamir and Logan again, chewing on his lip.

Letting out a sigh, he sat up and pushed the covers away.

“…Fine. But I’m not getting dressed.”

Thamir let out a short laugh. “That’s fine, man. Neither am I.”

Logan shook his head and moved to put on his shoes.

“You two are such a mess.”

* * *

Roman and Riad stumbled off of the dance floor and towards the chairs lined against the wall, collapsing into the seats in a fit of laughter. Their hands firmly clutched together, though they were sticky with sweat and shaky with nerves. As they caught their breath and giggled, Roman took in all of the details of Riad that he could.

His laughing faded as a soft warmth filled his chest. “I had no idea you could make dancing to classical music be so much fun!”

“Ah, it’s not that hard,” Riad said, grinning as he leaned back. “You just gotta know when’s the right time to pop and when to lock!”

“Oh, gods, never phrase it like that again,” Roman snorted. “How would you know anyway? That stuff’s impossible to predict!”

Riad rolled his eyes and shifted to face him. “Not when your grandmother refuses to play anything else. I’ve heard all of these pieces at _least_ a hundred times growing up.”

“Have you, now?”

“Mm-hm.” He leaned closer. “But… I think this is the first time I’ve enjoyed listening to them.”

Roman sat up a bit. “O-Oh?”

“Yeah.”

“Why’s that?”

At this point, Riad was close enough to Roman that he could practically feel his breath tickling against his face. Their noses were just centimeters apart. Roman couldn’t help but search for the bronze flecks in his eyes again.

Riad blinked slowly. “Because I’m listening to them with you.”

His heart thundered. Roman’s voice left him. Riad’s nose began to slide against his.

Biting back a gasp, Roman’s legs developed a mind of their own and launched him into a standing position. He let out a string of curses in his thoughts as he watched Riad blink up at him. Their hands still connected, leaving them both at an awkward angle; Roman swallowed thickly and tugged at him.

“I—Um—H-How about we go get some punch? I’m absolutely _parched_ after all that dancing!” he stammered.

Riad stared at him for another moment, a moment that had Roman’s legs trembling and mind racing. He forced an apologetic smile onto his face. Silently, he prayed to the gods that he wouldn’t assume this to be a rejection.

Slowly, Riad’s lips closed into a gentle smile. The look confusion blinked out of his eyes, allowing room for one of affection and care. He let out a quiet laugh.

“Sure,” he softly replied, giving Roman’s hand a light squeeze. “We can get punch, if that’s what you’re ready for.”

He lifted Roman’s hand and pressed a soft kiss to the back of it, keeping eye contact the whole time. Roman gaped and flushed while Riad stood and pulled him through the crowd towards the punch bowl.

“I think I saw Bora and Marjani somewhere around here,” Riad said as they grabbed their cups. “We can hang out with them for a bit until the music starts getting more modern, if you would like.”

Roman nodded. He reluctantly pulled his hand away from Riad’s, pausing to subtly wipe it on his pants before picking up the ladle in the bowl. “That sounds great. Perhaps they can be the judges of the my bet with Patton!”

“I’m sure they’d love that. Hey, speaking of, did you end up getting Logan and Virgil to come?”

“No, they prefer sitting in a silent, boring dorm to coming out and having a good time,” Roman scoffed. “Logan at least gave me a solid answer. Our dark and emo teammate still refuses to speak to me.”

“Still?” Riad asked. “It’s been a whole week…”

“I know! I keep trying to explain that I didn’t mean to make him look like the villain, but he won’t hear it!”

A frown etched onto Riad’s face. “Have you apologized?”

Roman raised an eyebrow as he passed the ladle. “What for? It’s not my fault that Virgil got upset.”

“Except it kind of is,” Riad replied, half-hearted chuckle slipping out with the words. “He didn’t want to be seen as the villain, but you made him do it anyway. You should have respected that. I think he’s disappointed that you didn’t. Even if it _hadn’t_ have been your fault, that doesn’t change the fact that you hurt him. You don’t get to decide that, Ro.”

Blinking, Roman stared at him. Riad shot a weak smile in return with a small shrug of his shoulders.

“I think it would fix a lot of things if you apologized,” he offered.

Roman let out a sigh through his nose and turned to look into his cup. He swirled the punch and his thoughts for a long moment.

“…I suppose you’re right,” he finally whispered. “I’ll apologize to him tomorrow.”

“Good. Let me know how it turns out,” Riad replied. He reached down and snatched Roman’s hand, pressing another kiss against it. “Now, come on. I think I see Bora and Marjani at one of the tables.”

“The ones with the tacky tablecloths, or the nice ones?”

Riad paused. “What do you mean? They’re all the same.”

A grin slipped onto Roman’s face, and a string of laughter out of his throat a moment later. Shaking his head, he tugged Riad away from the punch bowl and bumped their shoulders as they walked off.

“You have no sense of taste.”

“Hard to have a sense of taste when everything you’re tasting is the same flavor.”

* * *

The streets of Vale were surprisingly quiet for a late Saturday night. The air was cool and the lights were bright against the rapidly darkening sky. Few people roamed the sidewalks, leaving enough room for Thamir, Logan, and Virgil to comfortably walk side by side as they sipped their drinks.

“I still think the town square would have been a better place to stay,” Logan said, swirling his foam cup. “I very much prefer to sit when drinking my coffee, decaf or not.”

Thamir smirked and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I know. We could’ve stayed at the café if they hadn’t have changed their hours so suddenly…” The words were slightly muffled by the straw hanging out of his mouth.

“Those were the hours that they had when Patton and I went there during break,” Virgil replied. His finger pushed a little dent in his can of pop in and out.

“Okay, it’s possible I haven’t been there since before last semester,” Thamir admitted. “But, hey, the hours might be wrong, but the coffee’s still good, right?”

Humming, Logan raised his eyebrows at him. “ _Mine_ certainly is. I don’t understand how you can drink it cold.”

“Hey, iced coffee is a blessing to Remnant!”

“Perhaps to… To…”

There was a long pause; Virgil took a swig of the last of his pop before glancing over. While Thamir stared at Logan with raised eyebrows and a smile, Logan stared off into the distance, brow furrowed in a way that Virgil had only see it do when he was deep in thought. Virgil quirked his own eyebrow as he pulled the can away.

“Uh, Lo?”

Logan blinked and shook his head, looking down to swirl his coffee again. “I’m afraid I was unable to come up with a satisfactory retort to that. Let it be known that I do not like iced coffee.”

Thamir snorted and slipped his straw back into his mouth.

Rolling his eyes, Virgil threw his empty can into a trash bin and shoved his hands into his pajama pockets. A quiet huff made its way out of his mouth as they turned a corner. Fewer people were on this street, and he couldn’t help but feel a little grateful for it.

That is until his eyes flicked up to the edge of an alley, just in time to see a red cowboy hat slip out of sight.

Virgil felt his insides turn to ice. It took everything inside of him not to stop walking. A phantom boot pressed against his chest as they approached the turn, and bile churned in his stomach. Virgil went to open his mouth to say something, but found that his voice was gone.

When they passed the alley, he took a deep breath and glanced. It was empty.

He swallowed thickly.

“Um… Any idea when we’re going to head back to the dorms?” he asked. “Not that this isn’t fun, I’m just… kinda tired.”

“Virgil, you’ve hardly left the dorm this week. I think it would be beneficial if we stayed out a while longer,” Logan pointed out, shooting him a pointed look. “Isolating yourself as you’ve been doing isn’t healthy.”

His heart started to pound as he glanced over his shoulder again. “Yeah, and neither is collapsing out in the field tomorrow because I was too tired to function,” Virgil shot back. “Weren’t you the one to hold back on going to the dance for that exact reason?”

Logan opened his mouth to reply, but Thamir put a hand on his shoulder before any words could come out. He offered Virgil a gentle half smile and lifted his coffee.

“We’ll head back as soon as Logan and I have finished our drinks,” Thamir suggested. “Is that alright with you? We can head back now, if you’d rather.”

Virgil felt his face heat up; biting down hard on the inside of his cheek, he looked away. _Great, look at you! Now you’re being selfish ‘cause you’re seeing things. What is your problem? Why can’t you just calm down?!_

“No, it’s fine. We can stay out later,” he croaked out. “Sorry.”

“You’re fine,” Thamir said.

Virgil glanced over his shoulder again, once more seeing nothing but an empty street. He huffed and forced himself to take a deep breath. Everything was fine. Everything was okay. They were perfectly, one hundred percent safe. Those eyes he felt on them were just in his head.

A quick, subconsciously thought out glance up told him otherwise. He stopped walking.

The woman’s blonde hair flicked in the wind as she stared down at the trio from where she stood on top of the building they were next to. Hand hovering over the holster on her hip, she stood so still that she almost looked like a statue. Her bandanna was over her mouth again, blocking Virgil from seeing anything about her expression except her eyes, which narrowed after just a beat of staring at them.

_No,_ Virgil realized with a start. _She’s not staring at all of us. She’s staring at—_

“Virgil? Are you alright?”

He snapped his head back to look at Logan, mind racing. While he stared back with furrowed brows and a deep frown, Thamir followed Virgil’s previous eyeline to the top of the building, and his expression soon matched Logan’s.

“What’s that woman doing up there?” he asked.

The other two looked up just as her hand fell away from the holster. She took a few steps back until she disappeared from sight. Logan let out a hum; Virgil’s heart was pounding so heavily that he barely heard it.

_“Well, I need you to come with me, boy,”_ a voice rang in his head _, “And I doubt you’d be going without a fight.”_

Except, that woman didn’t need Patton that night. She’d turned and ran the moment she got a good look at him. Virgil thought about how her face had gone as red as her hat, almost as if—

Almost as if he wasn’t who she wanted.

He snapped his gaze towards Logan, scanning him while he was lost in conversation with Thamir. Was it possible that she had been looking for _him_ this whole time? The more Virgil thought about it, the less farfetched the idea seemed; after all, it wasn’t exactly a rare occurrence for Patton and Logan to get mixed up by classmates—hell, even _Roman_ got them mixed up sometimes! And if a complete stranger was asked to tell the difference…

The clacking of boots rang through the streets above them. Virgil looked up in time to watch the woman jump across the roofs of the buildings that made the alley.

He glanced down at his hands, a tremor setting in them.

Taking a deep breath, he clenched his fists and ran into the alley, ignoring all of Logan and Thamir’s yells after him.

Virgil emerged on the other side just in time to watch the woman slide down the side of a building and hit the ground; she took off the moment they made eye contact. As she hurried into another alley, he grit his teeth and sprinted after her. Unfamiliar street after unfamiliar street flew by through all of the twists and turns the woman made at every corner they came across.

As Virgil emerged from the other side of the alley, he watched a rope fly across the street and lasso around a sign before the woman swung down, tucking and rolling when she hit the ground. She jumped to her feet and yanked the rope back into her hands. When she turned to run off, her eye caught Virgil’s, and they stared at each other for a beat.

Virgil bared his teeth. “Hey!”

She turned and bolted. Virgil growled and sprinted after her.

Her boots clacked hard against the sidewalk, giving him a good lead for any time she got out of sight—an often occurrence, given how fast she was going. Every intersection turned, every alley sprinted through, every group of people disappeared into was nothing but a small challenge.

The further they ran, however, the more and more nervous Virgil got. Without Sangria Salvia, there was only one thing he could really use to stop her. His hands shook more violently the more he thought about it.

The moment they got onto an empty street, Virgil outstretched his hand and sucked in a deep breath, doing his best to focus and relax as his hand began to glow a dark purple.

Before his Semblance could reach its attacker, the woman whirled around and chucked a red dust crystal at him from out of her pocket. He gasped and skidded to a stop, throwing his hands over his face. His eyes squeezed shut just as a gunshot rang through the streets. The crackling of fire followed immediately after, and a blast of heat warmed his face. A shockwave knocked him back a few steps.

When he cracked his eyes open, Virgil just caught the sight of the woman disappearing around the corner. He pushed through the remaining smoke and skidded around the bend. There was nothing but a brick wall and silence.

“Dammit,” he panted.

His eyes flicked around, hoping to find any sign of where she might have gone, but there was nothing. Virgil swallowed thickly as his heart began to thunder in his chest again. He needed to get back to Logan and Thamir, _now_.

Running his fingers through his hair, Virgil turned around. He looked down the street one way, and then the other; with his heart in his throat, he ran to the corner and looked both ways again before running to the other end of the street and repeating the process.

Virgil bit down on his lip. He cursed himself for not paying attention to where they were running. They had left the downtown area of Vale without him realizing, and now he was completely alone.

He ripped his scroll out of his pocket, but the low battery light flashed at him upon sliding open. Cursing under his breath, he slammed it shut and shoved it away, resisting the urge to throw it across the street. A tremor settled in his entire body as he forced himself to breathe.

Wrapping his arms around himself, Virgil picked a direction and started walking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I know it's been a month since the last update, and I apologize that you folks on AO3 never got an explanation for this.
> 
> The thing about these last few chapters (well, the whole volume really) is that I was really rushing to get them done, and pushing myself to keep the weekly update schedule so much that I ended up being really unhappy with it all. So, for this chapter, I decided I was going to wait to post it until it was done and I was happy with it (relatively). This is going to continue for Chapters 8 and 9. They do not have set posting dates. Chapter 10 and on might be weekly updates again, but now that I've stared doing non-scheduled stuff, I don't know if I want to get back under that pressure. But we'll see. I'll make a decision by the time I post Chapter 9 and let you know-- Including on AO3 this time.


	8. A Worthy Knight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Virgil tries to find his way back to Logan and Thamir, Roman discovers a wrench in the night’s plans and tries to fix it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Mild anxiety attack, mentions of the death of a sibling and grandparent, brief transphobia, arguing
> 
> Behind the Scenes: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/176236843838/prvl-v2c8-a-worthy-knight-behind-the-scenes

“Virgil!”

“Virge!”

“ _Virgil!”_

Letting out a quiet growl, Logan ran a hand through his hair. “Of _course_ something like this was going to happen,” he muttered.

His hand fell to twirl his necklace as he looked around the street again, seeing nothing but a handful of unfamiliar faces roaming the area. Beside him, Thamir turned to walk backwards and scan the distance behind them.

“Gods, I’m sorry. This is my fault,” he said. “I shouldn’t have… Tonight was a bad idea. At least, it was bad timing. I’m sorry, Logan.”

“Something like this was bound to happen anyway. Don’t blame yourself. With all of the emotional problems our team has been having lately, I’m sure there would have been an event like this whether we were here or back in our dorms,” Logan replied.

Thamir frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, given that there’s no obvious reason why Virgil just ran off like that—”

“No, no.” Waving his hands, Thamir stopped and pressed his palm against Logan’s chest to hold him back as well. “I meant the emotional problems. Have there been a lot? I mean, I noticed that there’s something going on with Virgil tonight, but like, have there been problems with the others?”

Sighing, Logan’s shoulders fell, and he stared at the strings on Thamir’s hoodie. “There have been… a few,” he said. “Yes, Virgil has been in a bit of a breakdown, most likely due to feeling as though one of his own teammates views him as a villain. I’m sure that it’s been less than helpful that Roman has been refusing to see what he did wrong, which is… ridiculous, if you ask me. Even _I’ve_ been able to decipher it, despite my lack of social understandings.”

“Is that it?” Thamir asked.

“No. Patton… He had a sort of breakdown of his own a few weeks ago,” Logan quietly informed, “And we have no indication that he’s recovered yet.”

“What do you mean?”

Logan sighed. “Well, the event was very… sudden. He seemed, at least to me, and I assume the others, perfectly fine in the days leading up to it. Virgil informed us of some extremely stressful happenings, but if he hadn’t have said anything, I don’t think Roman and I ever would have found out. Patton has been just the same ever since. He acts as if there is nothing to worry about, but that night proved otherwise.”

Thamir nodded, starting to walk again. “What happened?”

“That’s the problem: I’m not entirely sure,” he admitted. Shaking his head, he followed, eyes searching the streets again. “When we asked him about it, the information that he gave us sounded to me like he was having a sensory overload. He mentioned how the noise in the cafeteria was physically hurting him, and how he became vastly overwhelmed by it the longer he sat in there.”

Logan lifted his hands; they swiveled around each other as he tried to find the right words to explain.

“And when we found him—he ran out in the middle of dinner one evening, and he had this breakdown in our dorm –when we found him, it almost looked like he was stimming. He was pacing, and flapping his hands, and he was letting out this long, low hum… Yet, as soon as he realized we were there, he stopped and simply cried harder. The only thing that calmed him down was Roman physically pulling him to the ground. He couldn’t coherently speak to us and explain until the breakdown was over.”

“Is Patton autistic?”

There was a sort of friendly casualness in Thamir’s voice that seemed out of place with the way it made Logan’s entire thought process screech to a halt. He stopped dead in his tracks and gaped at Thamir.

“What?”

Thamir paused, turning to look at him. “Was that a bad question?” he asked. “Sorry, I just… The breakdown you’re describing sounds a lot like what happened to you in Forever Fall last semester. Obviously, I wasn’t there for Patton’s, though, so I could be wrong. Sorry.”

Logan stared at Thamir for a long moment, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. “I… I hadn’t even thought about that,” he muttered.

“Is that a no?” he replied. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed like that.”

“No, you’re… You’re fine, Thamir,” Logan said. He blinked himself out of his trance and began to walk again. “Patton has never said anything about a diagnosis before.”

“Do you think he could be, though? I mean, just because he’s undiagnosed doesn’t mean he’s not.”

Logan shook his head in disbelief, reaching up to adjust his glasses.

“I don’t know.”

 

* * *

 

Patton poured the ladle of punch into his glass, paying very close attention to keep his emotions in check before they became weightless.

The music, while it was relatively calm, was still rattling his eardrums a bit—nothing he couldn’t handle, but definitely not something he was excited about when he was supposed to be focusing on having fun. His eyes shut, and he took a deep breath. Everything was fine. Everything _had_ to be fine. He was supposed to be having fun tonight! What in the world could be so bad about _one little thing_ going wrong that he couldn’t even—

“Patton!”

He jumped, whirling around to face the familiar voice; punch sloshed over the side of his cup, and he scrambled to grab a napkin and wipe it up before it could hit the floor. When he finally looked up, he forced a big smile onto his face.

“Hi, Roman,” he said. “Having fun?”

“Oh, like you wouldn’t believe!” Roman sighed. He placed a hand on his forehead and dipped back, wings unfurling to keep his balance. A soft smile played on his lips. “Riad and I have been having an absolute fairy tale of a night! It almost feels as if he walked directly out of a storybook!”

Patton giggled and leaned back against the table. “I’m really happy for you, Ro. You seem like a good match for each other!”

“Oh, thank you, my dear!” He raised his eyebrows at Patton; standing back up to his full height, he grabbed a glass and stood next to him. “I’m sure you and Li are having just as grand of a time, though, are you not?”

“Um… Yeah,” Patton slowly replied. Placing his hand on top of his cup, he ran his thumb over the lip. “Trix and Anole have kind of been the ones to be with tonight,” he added with a short laugh. “It’s been a lot of fun! There’s a couple of people from other kingdoms who keep trying to ask Trix to dance, and it’s been fun watching them try to out smart each other.”

Roman’s eyebrows shot up. “They’re trying to dance with Trix? Like, my sister, Trix? Trix Reptilia?”

“Yeah! I guess she’s really popular these days, huh?” Patton giggled.

His eyes flicked over to search the room for his siblings; sure enough, Trix and Anole sat next to each other on the other side of the ball room, and two people he vaguely recognized stood close by, waving their arms in what looked to be an argument. Anole’s hand clamped over his mouth, though his shoulders were shaking with laughter. Trix had her arms crossed and lips pressed together as she stared at the ceiling.

Roman’s nostril’s flared a bit as he turned back to Patton. “They’re not bothering her, are they?”

Patton shook his head. “She told us earlier that she really liked them both. I think she’s just tired of the fighting.”

“Ha! That’s rich, coming from her!”

Patton simply smiled, eyes falling back to the cup in his hands. A mostly comfortable silence fell between the two; taking a drink of punch, Roman turned his head to look around the room.

“So, uh… Where _is_ Li?” he asked. “I haven’t had the chance to see him yet. I assume his suit looks pretty similar to yours and everyone else’s, since he hasn’t really popped out of the crowd yet.”

Hesitating, Patton looked away. “…No, Li’s—Li’s outfit tonight doesn’t look anything like mine.”

“Is that so? Huh, guess I’ve been too busy staring at Riad to notice!” Roman laughed. He set his cup aside and stood before turning around to face Patton. “Well, I suppose that means you’ll just have to bring him over! Can’t make a decision on who’s man is the best dressed if I haven’t seen half of the competition!”

Patton chewed on his lip; his eyes fell to the floor. His hand clamped tighter over his cup, but not before Roman caught a glimpse of punch trying to escape. Any excitement for the night was gone in an instant as he frowned.

“Patton…?”

“I… I can’t,” Patton spoke, voice so soft it could barely be heard. He swallowed thickly before he continued. “Li didn’t come.”

Roman stared at him for a beat, confusion and shock washing over him all at once. His mouth hung open for a beat before his mind could come up with any words. “…He didn’t? Why?”

Patton gave a half-hearted shrug. His eyes stayed glued to the floor. “He said he had better things to do.”

“Did he know you wanted to accompany him?”

He nodded slowly. “I’m sorry, Roman.”

Sucking in a soft gasp, Roman reached forward and put his hands on Patton’s shoulders. “No, no, Patton, it’s okay! You haven’t done anything wrong, Patton. You have nothing to apologize for. I should be the one apologizing; I shouldn’t have assumed that he was going to say yes just because our our silly little competition. I…” He sighed and gently lifted Patton’s chin to look at him. “Are you okay?”

Now that he was close and paying attention, Roman could see the redness to his eyes and the slight puffiness of the skin around them. They were still a little glassy. Roman couldn’t help but internally curse at himself for missing it. Despite it all, however, Patton plastered a beaming grin on his face as soon as their eyes met.

“I’m fine!” he exclaimed. “You know what they say, when life gives you LMNNs!”

Roman frowned, but he pulled away anyway. “Uh… Right…”

His gaze drifted away from Patton and towards the stairs, where Riad stood with Bora and Marjani. Bora said something, and the three laughed; Riad’s eyes met Roman’s, and he sent him a warm smile. Roman looked away before he could return it.

“Um… Patton?” he said, looking back at him. “Could you excuse me for a moment? I promise I’ll come right back, I just need to—”

“Of course, Ro!” Patton interrupted. “Go have fun! I’ll probably be with Trix and Anole; don’t worry about me.”

Roman shook his head, offering a soft smile. “Impossible.”

Before Patton could protest, Roman pushed through the crowd and headed towards the stairs. Riad watched him the whole way; the closer Roman got, the more his expression fell from warmth to concern. He held out an arm for Roman to tuck himself under as soon as he was close enough, but Roman gently pushed it down, rubbing the back of his neck.

Marjani reached up to adjust her braids, her bracelets jingling with the movement. “So… Is it almost time to judge?” she asked.

“We promise we’ll be totally fair and not biased at all towards Riad’s complete inability to dance,” Bora added, shooting Riad a grin.

He glanced at her for just a second before turning his attention back to Roman; the youngest of the four had his eyes on the ground and a deep frown etched on his lips. Riad reached for his hand, but hesitated when Roman made no move to meet him halfway.

“Roman?”

Sucking in a breath, Roman looked up. “Um… Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Of course,” Riad replied.

Roman took Riad’s outstretched hand and lead him to an empty corner of the room. There was an air of hesitancy around him as his mouth opened and shut a couple of times, causing the worry to only grow in Riad’s gut. He gently squeezed Roman’s hand as he waited.

Finally, Roman let out a sigh and looked Riad in the eye. “Look, Riad—I’ve been having a great time tonight,” he said. “Being with you and dancing has been one of the greatest ways I could spend a night. I really, really have been enjoying this, and I don’t want you to think otherwise.”

“I won’t,” Riad reassured. “I’ve been having a lot of fun, too, but… Is there something wrong?”

Roman chewed on his lip and looked away. “I… Yes. Not—Not with us—Everything has been absolutely lovely, I really, genuinely promise with all I have that this isn’t because of you—”

“Roman, you’re making me nervous.”

There was a beat of silence. Hesitantly, Roman’s eyes flicked up to look through the crowd. He took a deep breath and looked up into Riad’s eyes.

“Li didn’t come,” he slowly informed. “He rejected Patton. And—And Patton’s been spending the evening with Trix and Anole, but I don’t think he’s having fun, and I just—I feel awful, because it was my idea, and I kept telling him no one would ever say no to him, and he’s had so much going on this semester…”

Roman let out a sigh, looking back to the floor. His head slowly shook as his eyes fell shut. Riad gently squeezed his hand and kept quiet.

“I just… feel like he needs a friend right now. Trix and Anole are great, but they’re not his teammates. It’s part of my responsibility as a teammate and a friend—a _family_ member, to Patton –to make sure he’s alright,” Roman finished. “I’m… I’m sorry, Riad. I’ve been having so much fun with you, and I don’t want it to end, but it wouldn’t be fair to Patton. I’m sorry.”

Riad let out a short laugh. Roman shut his eyes, preparing himself for the worst.

Instead, Riad gently lifted Roman’s chin to get him to look at him. He offered a warm smile and understanding eyes.

“You don’t have to apologize, Ro,” he said. “I’m not upset. Patton needs you, and that’s okay. I’ve been having a lot of fun, too, but this is more important. I think it’s very noble of you. I couldn’t be more honored to be your date tonight, no matter how long we had together.”

A blush spread across Roman’s face, followed by a weak smile.

Without a second thought, he cupped Riad’s face and pressed their lips together.

Carefully moisturized skin met chapped, creating a rough sensation that Roman couldn’t say he hated. The remnants of Riad’s futile chapstick tasted of vanilla and strawberries; he could smell mint and fruit punch in the breath left behind before the contact. Riad’s open hand reached up to rest on his shoulder as he leaned in. Their chests pressed together, and their rapid heartbeats pounded in rhythm to the music and each other.

Roman’s wings fluttered a bit.

His eyes flew open the moment he realized what he had done. He pulled back, eyes wide and lips parted.

“I-I’m sorry, I… I don’t know where that came from, I should have asked, I—”

Another short laugh from Riad cut him off just before another quick kiss was planted on his lips. Riad smiled up at him and squeezed his hand.

“Go have fun,” he said.

Lips still tingling, Roman smiled back and nodded. He reluctantly let go of Riad’s hand and headed into the crowd, eyes staying on him until he was out of sight.

Roman’s hand reached up to feel his thundering heartbeat. Taking a deep breath to compose himself, he headed off to search for Patton.

 

* * *

 

Virgil almost felt like he couldn’t breathe.

His head spun as he briskly walked down the streets, looking up and down in an attempt to get his bearings. Every shop looked the same, all of the signs’ letters blurred together in his mind even though he could see them clearly, and he couldn’t for the _life_ of him remember which way he’d come from or which way he’d gone. He tried to take in a deep breath in an attempt to clear his mind, but it was in vain. His entire body trembled harsher the further he went.

Somehow, through the fog of panic and confusion, the only thing his mind was willing to pull up was a memory from when he was a kid, when he and Crina were young and their family had gone to Atlas on a trip to visit an old friend of their Papi’s. They had been in the middle of the city when Crina had seen something, something that years of trying to forget had left scratched out, and she’d run off, dragging Virgil along with her through the crowds. By the time they realized their dads hadn’t followed, they were long gone, and Virgil and Crina had no idea where they were.

Virgil squeezed his eyes shut and tried to push the memory away, but it did nothing except bring it up clearer.

They’d walked around town for what felt like hours that afternoon. Virgil remembered trying to reassure Crina that everything would be okay, but looking back, it had been more for himself than anything. Crina had charged ahead, running down street after street; Virgil had struggled to keep ahold of her hand the whole time. At one point, she’d slipped out of his grip and run around a corner before he could catch up. He had never felt so much fear in his life up to that point—even _now_ , it was one of the scariest moments he could remember. And then he’d turned the corner to find her talking to a big, scary robot, and the fear had grown so much it felt like it would burst out of his chest.

But… It had all been okay. Because Crina was there, and he wasn’t alone anymore.

And she showed him that the big, scary robot wasn’t that big and scary after all; in fact, it had been looking for them to take them back to Dad and Papi. An Atlesian Knight, they’d called it. Robots built to protect and serve the citizens of Atlas in ways that Hunters like their uncle weren’t able to. Virgil had been terrified of it at first, but Crina had taken him by the hand and introduced him to it like it was her new imaginary friend, and it spoke to them like any robot would, in big technical terms that they didn’t understand. Once Virgil got past that initial fear, he ended up having a lot of fun before it took them back to their dads, all because Crina was brave where he couldn’t be.

Virgil opened his eyes, finding his hand held out a little further away than it should have been when he was by himself. He quickly pulled it back and wrapped it around himself. His eyes swept around the blurry streets of Vale again, searching for anything familiar that could get his mind off of his memories. Anything, like a big sign, or a dumb shop name he could laugh at, or—

…A big, scary robot.

Virgil blinked, jaw falling slack.

Two of them were walking down the sidewalk across from him, big guns in hand and metallic heads swiveling around to scan the streets. They were similar to the one he and Crina had met in Atlas, but they were solid white, and they didn’t glow red, and they were shinier and nicer looking, but the build was nearly identical, let alone the way they walked and moved.

Virgil found himself slowing to a stop as he stared at them. The memory played over and over again in the back of his mind. If he really needed help getting back to Logan and Thamir, or just getting back to Beacon, _surely_ he could ask—

No. No, he couldn’t do that. They probably had better things to do, and—and he wasn’t a little kid anymore, he was an adult, practically a full-grown Huntsman. What kind of Huntsman needed to go to the authorities to find his friends when he got lost? Those Atlesian Knights would just laugh him off and report him to… wherever they reported. That was assuming they even _were_ Atlesian Knights. For all he knew, they could be knock-offs that were under the control of whatever big crime ring ran Vale, or just regular robots that belonged to no one and had nothing to do with people in charge! They weren’t even _in_ Atlas; why the hell would there be Atlesian Knights here?!

_Idiot,_ Virgil hissed at himself, _don’t get your stupid hopes up because of a stupid memory. They won’t help you._

He shook his head and forced himself to turn away, walking down the street with his vision blurrier than before. A trembling sigh tumbled out of him. He just wanted to go back to bed.

“Virgil!”

Virgil’s head snapped up at the sound of the familiar voice echoing through the streets.

“Virgil!”

He whirled around, searching for the source, but he and the robots were the only ones here. Blinking furiously, he bit down on his lip and listened closely.

“Virgil!”

“Logan?” he yelled.

Silence fell. Virgil swallowed thickly.

“Virgil, where are you?!” Thamir’s voice called.

Letting out a breath of relief, he followed the voice across the street, hesitantly passing the robots as he ran by. “I’m over here!”

He was just turning the corner when another body rounded it at the same time, and the two crashed into each other full speed. Virgil’s eyes widened as he tumbled to the ground; he caught sight of Logan stumbling back into Thamir, who threw out his arms just in time to catch him. The three stared at each other for a short beat before Logan dropped to his knees in front of Virgil.

“Is everything alright?” he asked, voice scratchy and slightly strained. “What in the world made you run off like that?”

Virgil slowly sat up, hissing as he rubbed the spot where his shoulder had collided with the sidewalk. “I’m fine,” he said.

Frowning, Logan looked closer at his face. “Are you sure? You appear as if you were crying. Did you injure yourself?”

“No, Logan. I’m fine. I just… Got lost.”

Virgil turned his face away long enough to scrub the tears out of his eyes. He shot Logan a look and climbed to his feet, shoving his hands into his pockets. He did his best to take a deep breath as subtly as he could.

Logan stood, the frown only etching deeper on his face. “…Very well, then,” he replied. “You still haven’t answered my second question.”

“Which question was that?” Virgil asked.

“The one asking why you ran off so suddenly,” Thamir cut in. He put a hand on Logan’s shoulder as he raised an eyebrow at Virgil. “You just took off and disappeared. We were worried.”

Virgil was silent for a moment; his own hand reached up to rub the back of his neck. “Um… I saw her.”

“Whom?”

“The… The woman that attacked Patton and me, a while back,” Virgil slowly answered. “I… I didn’t know what to do. I just kind of panicked, so I chased her.”

Logan blinked. “I’m sorry. You saw a dangerous criminal that we know was after Patton, someone who should be turned into the authorities, and your first idea was to _go after her?_ ”

“I told you, I panicked,” Virgil snapped.

“But why would that be your first response? Why didn’t you stop and think about the consequences of—?”

“I _didn’t_ , okay?! She could have come back and jumped us like she did with me and Patton! Hell, she could even be about to do that right now! What are we going to do then, huh?!”

Logan crossed his arms and glared. “We will fight, and we will have the advantage because there’s _three_ of us now instead of just you. I don’t understand why you didn’t say anything before running off like that! If you couldn’t beat her with Patton before, why would you think you could take her on by yourself and _win_? Why didn’t you trust Thamir and me to be able to fight with you? At least with three of us, we could have stood a better chance against her!”

_She was after_ you _, Logan!_ Virgil wanted to scream. _She was after you and I couldn’t let her get to you; what the hell else was I supposed to do?!_

Instead, however, he kept his mouth shut and turned away, letting a little growl slip out from his throat.

Thamir stepped forward and put his hands on each of their chests. “Alright, let’s take a deep breath,” he ordered. “Listen, we’re here now. We’re safe. That’s all that matters. We can report that woman to the authorities and go back to the dorms, okay?”

Virgil’s stomach flipped, and he yanked himself away from Thamir’s touch. “I am _not_ talking to any police tonight! Do you know how hard they’re going to judge me for not being able to handle that on my own?! We’re supposed to be Huntsmen in training, not just regular civilians!”

“I didn’t say the police,” Thamir calmly replied. “There’s a couple of Atlesian Knights right there.  They can take our report and deal with her themselves. I don’t agree with Ironwood that we need extra protection for the festival—I’d like to think Vale could handle itself if anything were to happen –but we might as well use them, since they’re here. No other people involved.”

Logan and Virgil turned their attention to the robots that stood just a few feet away, watching them closely. In the back of his mind, Virgil knew that they weren’t going to hurt them; however, a shiver wracked up his spine regardless. He wrapped his arms around himself and looked away.

“…Whatever,” he grumbled.

Quiet sighs fell out of Logan and Thamir as they glanced at each other, but they remained silent as they walked past Virgil and towards the Atlesian Knights. Virgil stayed still for a beat before letting out a huff and reluctantly following.

Thamir’s hand never left Logan’s shoulder. The moment Virgil noticed, he felt a phantom grip on his wrist. He quickly swallowed the lump that grew in his throat and pressed on.

 

* * *

 

“So, Roman left you all alone on your big night, eh?”

Riad turned from where he was leaning on the banister, offering a smile at Anole as he walked over. “Yeah, turns out I’m not the only person he needs to be the hero for,” he laughed.

Anole rolled his eyes and joined Riad. “Typical. He talks up a boy for weeks, only to ditch him when he finds someone new. I’m surprised you lasted this long, honestly.”

“I think Roman’s more loyal than you’re thinking him to be,” Riad replied. “I’m pretty confident that he’s not going to leave me for Patton.”

“I wouldn’t put it past him. He hasn’t dated many guys before. We don’t know his type.”

“Well, I’d like to remind you that we aren’t dating yet,” he pointed out, turning his attention down towards the dance floor. “Technically, we’re still just… Really close friends.”

Anole raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying your relationship with my little brother is just a throw-away fling until you guys get bored of each other?”

“No, of course not!” Riad exclaimed with a giggle. “At least it isn’t to me.”

Letting out a hum, Anole followed Riad’s line of vision to find Roman and Patton on the dance floor. Grins were plastered on their faces as they swayed together to the beat of the classical music. Roman said something that caused Patton to let out a loud laugh, and then he stepped back to twirl and dip him. Now a giggling mess, Patton pulled himself upright and gave Roman a hug; Roman smiled and pulled him close, casting a soft glance up towards Riad. Anole glanced over in time to watch Riad shoot a wink that made Roman’s face nearly as red as his tie.

“He’s really great, you know that?” Riad said, breaking the silence between them. “And charming, and kind… I’m really glad I was fortunate enough to be able to connect with him the way we did. My grandma would always tell me stories about her and Grampa, how they would go on these crazy dates and got into all kinds of trouble all the way up until he passed away. It’s kind of funny to think about her being reckless once upon a time, now that she can hardly get up long enough to do much of anything.”

Letting out a soft sigh, Riad looked at the floor. “Look, I… I know you don’t like Roman and I feeling like this towards each other, but… I like him. I really do, Anole. And I want to be to him what my Grampa was to Grandma. I want to get into trouble with him, and go on dumb dates and be reckless together. Life is short, y’know? I don’t want to waste time being scared and alone when I could be brave and with someone I like. I really want to be with him, man.”

Anole was quiet for a long moment. His eyes glued to the dance floor, but not on any particular person or couple. A neutral expression rested on his face; his breathing was steady and even. He leaned heavily against the banister, shoulders hunching in just a bit from the awkward angle.

Finally, he opened his mouth and sucked in a breath to speak. Laughter began to echo through the ballroom before any words could come out. He turned to search for what the commotion was about, only for his blood to run cold.

A first year— Jaune Arc, if Anole remembered right –carefully pushed his way through the crowd. The students surrounding him cackled and whooped as he went by, some even going as far to make sexual gestures behind his back.

His dress ruffled with every step he took until he reached… Trix?

No—When she turned around, Anole recognized her as the girl from the cereal box. Pyrrha Nikos.

She erupted into laughter at the sight of him.

Anole gripped the banister tighter.

“You okay?” Riad asked, voice gentle.

Anole said nothing. He simply shook his head and pushed away, walking as quickly as he could towards the door to the balcony.

Down at the punch bowl, Trix’s eyes followed his path, her grip tightening on her glass. She shoved it into Keahi’s hands before shoving past Abeba and rushing up the stairs.

 

* * *

 

“Anole?”

The moonlight cast a soft glow over the campus, illuminating the buildings and greenery scattered throughout. Music and laughter from behind begged Trix to go back inside and enjoy the night, but she resisted. A soft breeze shifted her hair as she watched Anole’s stock-still form near the edge of the balcony.

There was a shaky sigh as he leaned on the railing; his head dipped, slowly shaking.

“This night just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it?” he grumbled.

Trix crept forward, lifting a hand to rest on his shoulder as she drew nearer. “I can go kick his ass, if you want,” she offered. “Roman, Riad, or Jaune. Take your pick.”

Anole was silent. He turned his head to look in the opposite direction. A frown etched onto Trix’s face, and she spun around to hop up and sit on the railing.

“I could even fight the whole student body. They were the ones laughing, after all. I don’t understand what was so funny about a dude wearing a dress.”

Again, there was no response. Trix watched him for any sort of reaction, but he stayed completely still. Carefully, she reached over and touched his chin, guiding him to finally look at her.

His eyes were misty, and he swallowed thickly upon making eye contact. She took him by the shoulder and pulled him into her arms.

“It’s alright, Little Hatchling,” she whispered.

“No, it’s not.”

His voice cracked in the middle of his sentence; he wrapped his arms around his older sister and clung to her. His head shook against her shoulder as he let out a huff.

“Of all the things he could have been laughed at for,” he grumbled, “It had to be _that_.”

“People are jerks, dude. Don’t let it get to you,” Trix replied.

“How can I _not?!_ It’s like, half of my identity! How would you feel if the majority of the school just laughed at someone for being a faunus?” Anole snapped, gripping her tighter. “I know you don’t get it, but it… it sucks. Knowing that so many people would think you were a joke if they ever found out.”

She hummed. “Still hiding it, then?”

He pulled back just enough to glare at her. “I want you to remember what just happened in there and ask yourself that question again.”

Rolling her eyes, she shoved his face back into her shoulder. “Don’t be such a snarky little brother. That’s what Roman is for,” she shot back. “Besides, who gives a damn what they think? You have a right to feel comfortable in your own skin, dude, social norms or not.”

“It should be a social norm by now.”

“Not the point,” she pointed out. “You’ve already been so stressed this semester, and the people who matter already love you and all of that sappy stuff. Why can’t you just let yourself be you without worrying about hiding it? Roman and I have your back, and so do your teammates. What’s there to worry about? Everything’s gonna be alright, man.”

“No, it’s not,” Anole repeated. “ _Nothing_ this semester has been alright. And I’m not even talking about being trans in a transphobic world! Being team leader has always sucked, but it’s so much worse now that I have to worry about the relationship statuses of all three of my teammates. It was bad enough when it was just Bora and Marjani—do you have any idea how much it’s going to suck if they ever break up? We can’t exactly swap teammates four semesters in!”

“They’re not going to break up, dude,” Trix reassured, rubbing her hand up and down his back. “Not anytime soon. Three and a half semesters isn’t something you just walk away from without reason.”

“But half of a semester of not-dating is!”

Trix raised an eyebrow. “Do you really think Riad or Roman would ever do something like that? You know them better than that, man.”

Pulling away, Anole ran a hand through his hair. “I _don’t_ think they would. And that’s the problem _._ ”

“…You lost me,” Trix replied, brow furrowing as she looked Anole up and down. “I thought you didn’t want any of your teammates upset.”

“I-I _don’t_ , I just…” Anole groaned and raked his hands over his face, stopping as soon as his eyes were buried in his palms. He let out a long breath. “…I _hate_ it,” he mumbled.

“Hate what?”

“Everything. Everything about Roman and Riad getting close like this,” he said. “I hate hearing them talk about nothing else except each other, I hate having to worry that one of them is going to hurt the other and I’m going to be caught in the middle of it, I hate having to watch my best friend and my baby brother stare at each other like they want to tear each other’s clothes off!”

“They’re not _that_ bad,” Trix replied.

“That’s because you don’t spend the majority of your time with them. Ask Bora and Marjani, and probably any member of PRVL, and they’ll probably confirm the same thing!” He threw his hands down, staring up at the sky. “I know I should be happy for them. I know I should be glad they’re with someone I can trust! But I’m _not_. I really, genuinely hate it. If they were with anyone else—fine. That’d be great. Send me the first wedding invite. The two of them together, though? Gods, it’s the weirdest thing in the world. And the worst part? They’re both… serious. Really serious.”

Anole shut his eyes and slid down the railing to sit on the ground. His head dropped against one of the columns with a quiet _thunk_.

“I feel like a monster,” he breathed.

There was silence for a long moment. The thundering, muffled bass line rumbled through the walls; a stronger wind ruffled their clothes and hair.

Trix slid off of the banister and sunk down to sit next to him. She slipped her heels off, tucking her legs under her as soon as they were gone. “You’re not a monster for having emotions, Anole.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Three hundred percent,” she stated. “They might not be the healthiest, or the most selfless, but that doesn’t make you a terrible person.”

Scoffing, Anole cracked an eye open. “I certainly feel like one.”

Trix shrugged. “Yeah, well… That can happen. Doesn’t mean it’s true. You recognized that it’s a problem, and that already makes you better than a whole lot of other people. Now, you can work on it and try to be better.”

“…What if I don’t _want_ to work on it?” Anole whispered.

“Then that’s a whole ‘nother problem you need to work on,” she firmly replied. “It’s one thing not to repress your emotions and to be open about how you’re feeling. It’s another to relish in them and let them grow and fester. That’s the path you take if you really _do_ want to become a monster.”

Anole fell silent, gaze drifting up to stare at the stars.

After a long moment, he let out a loud groan and threw his hands up to rub at his face. “I hate it when you get all wise and stuff!” he exclaimed. “You’re as bad as Dad is!”

“What, did you want me to _not_ tell the truth?” Trix shot back.

“No, I just—I hate feeling guilty! Couldn’t you have phrased it so that I _don’t_ have to feel like garbage while still understanding what I did wrong?”

She raised an eyebrow, smirk planting itself on her face. “You realize you’ll never be able to understand without feeling like that, right? It’s what you get for doing something that’s wrong!”

“There you go again! Gods, it’s like we never left the farm!”

Letting out a laugh, Trix launched forward and tackled Anole to the ground. Her arms wrapped tight around his waist before he could squirm away; she rolled until she could comfortably shift and sit on his chest.

“Whatever,” she said. “You’re just jealous that Dad likes me more.”

“Alright, first of all, that’s absolutely _not_ true. We all know I’m his favorite—”

“ _That’s_ a lie—”

“—And second, I don’t get jealous, so your argument is completely invalid.”

Trix grinned, shooting him a look. “Oh, I see. So you grumbling about how Roman got to have his own room when Torius left for Beacon wasn’t anything, huh?”

“That was one time—”

“And the way you used to stare at Torius’s scrawny pre-teen gross stache was because it was just _so fascinating_ , am I right?”

“Alright, we didn’t have to bring that up—”

“And that time when you punched me when you were six because I got Auntie’s necklace had nothing to do with the fact that you were as green as your hair?”

Anole let out a groan. “Okay, I get it! Maybe I do get a little jealous every once in a while! Now can you please get off of me?”

Rolling her eyes, Trix stood and walked over to grab her heels. “Yeah, whatever, Big Man. I’m sure people are starting to wonder where we are, anyway.”

“And by people, you mean Keahi and Abeba, right?” Anole replied, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

“They’re not the only people that care about us, you know,” Trix replied.

He hummed. “Maybe not, but they’re the only people in there that _you_ care about.”

A hint of red dusted her cheeks amongst the abundance of freckles; as a dumb smile formed, she scoffed and rolled her eyes again.

“What can I say? They’re both cute, even if they don’t know when to stop fighting,” she said.

“They’d fit right into our family.”

Pulling Anole to his feet, Trix nodded. “Yeah,” she replied. “Yeah, they would.”

She wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and he her waist. Together, they headed back into the cacophony of music and yelling.

 

* * *

 

The door swung open, and Virgil stumbled in with a huff, flopping face-first onto his bed the moment he came close enough. He managed to kick his shoes off in his half-asleep state; a moment later, soft snores filled the room.

Logan poked his head into the doorway. Upon seeing the state of his teammate, he let out a soft sigh and shook his head.

“He didn’t even brush his teeth,” he muttered.

In the hall, Thamir snickered. “I can certainly relate to that.”

“And it’s a habit you need to break as soon as you can,” Logan replied. “Dental hygiene is incredibly important, Thamir.”

“Yeah, I know. You’ve only told me a hundred times,” Thamir said.

Logan crossed his arms. “Surely, I haven’t told you _that_ many times.”

Letting out a soft laugh, Thamir rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. His lips pressed together, and he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet.

“Hey, uh… Y’know, despite the drama, I had a lot of fun tonight,” he finally said. “It was nice to be able to hang out somewhere other than my dorm.”

“I agree. Cities may not be my favorite environment, but it was quite enjoyable to walk around,” Logan replied.

Thamir’s eyes flicked up to meet his, a shy smile forming. When Logan snapped his gaze away, Thamir straightened and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“We should do it again sometime,” he suggested. “Maybe just you and me, if Virgil starts feeling any better.”

“Oh. Um…” Logan blinked, looking down to inspect his shoes. “That, um. That sounds… That sounds quite alright. Perhaps when we get back from our missions, if we aren’t too exhausted.”

Thamir grinned. “That sounds great.”

Logan smiled back.

After a moment, Thamir lifted his hand and turned to head off. “Well… Good night, Logan,” he said. “Good luck on your mission tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Thamir. The best of luck to your team, as well.”

He beamed and nodded, quietly walking down the hall. Logan watched until he turned the corner, and only stepped into his room when he heard the door to the stairwell shut.

As soon as he closed the door behind him, Logan looked at Virgil’s sleeping form through the soft glow of Roman’s ever-shining fairy lights. He let out a soft sigh and shook his head. There was no _way_ Virgil could possibly sleep and get adequate rest when he was hanging halfway off of the bed as he was now.

An idea formed in his head, and he chewed on his lip. He listened closely to the hallway to ensure no one was coming.

Quietly, Logan walked over and hoisted Virgil the rest of the way onto his mattress. He pulled the blankets from underneath him just enough to put them over top; carefully, he pulled the scroll out of his hands and set it on the bookshelf.

Once he was satisfied with the position he’d left his friend in, Logan moved to get ready for bed himself.

 

* * *

 

A couple of hours later, the door carefully creaked open again, allowing three figures to tiptoe into the room. Hushed whispers could be heard over the soft snoring of the other two; there was shuffling and giggling a moment later.

“Logan’s going to be really upset if he finds out we were up this late,” Patton whispered. “We need to go to bed.”

Roman rolled his eyes and slipped out of his jacket, dropping it unceremoniously onto his chair. “Oh, alright. Whatever stims his whims, I suppose.” He turned to the figure next to him and gestured towards his closet. “I think I might have a set of pajamas you can use, if you don’t mind going back into the closet for a few minutes. Come with me.”

There was a beat of silence as the three moved towards their respective closets.

_Bang!_

“Oh, God, that’s a chair!”

Slapping a hand over his mouth, Roman rushed over and grabbed onto Riad’s hand, holding back giggles as he rubbed his foot. “I’m so sorry! I forgot you don’t have night vision,” he whispered.

“Uh-huh,” Riad replied. “I’m _sure_.”

“Do you need me to kiss it better?” Roman asked, pulling his hand down to reveal a sly grin.

Riad raised an eyebrow. “What, my foot?”

“No, gross!”

The two dissolved into hushed laughter before Roman carefully guided him through the room and into the closet. By the time they emerged, pristine suits discarded in favor of sweatpants and, in Riad’s case, a baggy t-shirt, Patton was fast asleep in his own bed, and they were alone.

Together, they wormed their way under the blankets of Roman’s bed and carefully arranged themselves; in order to snuff out the threat of falling off, they had to lay on their sides and nearly press their chests together. Their faces were just inches apart. A comfortable silence fell between them as they inspected each other’s irises.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight,” Roman breathed.

“Really?” Riad whispered back. “I’m not gonna lie, I’m exhausted from the dance. Aren’t you?”

Roman giggled. “Of course I am! But I’m too excited for the mission tomorrow.” He leaned forward, pressing a kiss onto Riad’s forehead. “And you’re here, too.”

“I can leave, if that’ll help you sleep,” Riad replied.

He started to sit up, but Roman shot out a hand and gripped his arm, pulling him back down.

“No, of course not! Then I’ll just be here alone and awake!” he pointed out. “Please, stay. I would really appreciate the company.”

A soft smile settled on Riad’s lips, and he shuffled to lay back down again. “Alright. I’ll stay.”

Roman smiled, pulling himself closer to Riad and resting his forehead on his chest. His wing lifted and wrapped around them both; Riad did the same with his arm and pressed a gentle kiss into Roman’s hair.

The room fell into the white noise of soft snoring and their pounding heartbeats.

After a long moment, Riad shifted. “Hey… Roman?”

“Hmm?”

“I’ve been… thinking.”

Roman blinked his eyes open—when had he closed them? –and tilted his head enough to peer up at Riad’s hair. “Are they good things?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” Riad quickly reassured. “I’ve just been like… You know. Us. Thinking about that.”

He paused for a moment, chewing on his lip; Roman pulled himself back up to be at eye level again and raised an eyebrow.

“Is everything alright?” he whispered.

Riad nodded slowly. His eyes seemed to dart to everything except the one in front of him.

“Roman, you… you are one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met,” he said. “You’re creative, and bold, and have the craziest ideas, and… And you know, I’m not like that.” His eyes shut. “I can’t come up with plans of any kind if you gave me a month, let alone on the fly like you do. You’re really so… so unique, you know that? There’s not a single other person on this planet who can come up with the same things you do.”

He opened his eyes, this time looking directly into Roman’s. “And you’re so brave and loyal—God, the way you’ll just jump in to help your friends, no matter what the cost is to you, is so admirable. I know it was just a silly dance tonight, but watching you choose to spend your night with a friend in need instead of the guy you asked… It just made me realize how—how much I really… I really like you. I could never be as amazing as you are, and it just makes me want to be with you so much more. You really, truly, are something special, Roman. You’re better than me in every way.”

Roman shook his head. “Riad… Riad, no.”

He leaned forward and kissed him, their teeth clacking against the intensity. Riad’s mouth was significantly drier than it had been earlier in the night, and Roman did his best to ignore the worry forming in his gut. Instead, he pressed his lips harder, as if it would convey his emotions directly and wordlessly.

When he finally pulled back, a small _smack_ loud in the quiet room, Roman touched his forehead against Riad’s. An emotional laugh barked out of his throat before he could stop it.

“Riad, you… Do you really think that? That I’m better than _you?_ ” he asked. Before Riad could say anything, Roman continued. “You, the wise, kind, honest soul that I have the honor of getting to know? I…” He sighed, shaking his head. “I could _never_ be anywhere near as good as you are. Gods, I don’t even deserve having you as a… a…” His eyes squeezed shut, and he angled his face just a little further away. “…A part of my life. I don’t, Riad. You’ve seen my siblings. They’ve always deserved so much more than me, but you make me feel like I’m actually _worthy_ of something, and I… I must admit that I do feel a bit selfish, keeping you all to myself when you could have so much more with one of them. I don’t want to hold you back.”

“Hold me back? Are you kidding?” Riad laughed. “You’ve been making me a better man, Roman.”

Roman offered a tearful smile. “I should be the one saying that to _you_.”

Riad stared at him for a moment before he leaned in and softly pressed his lips against Roman’s; Roman leaned into it without the slightest hesitation.

Letting out a little giggle, Riad broke them apart and raised his eyebrows. “Besides, there’s no _way_ Anole could ever be this good at kissing.”

Roman snorted and buried his face in Riad’s hair, muffling his quiet laughter as best as he could through the rough coils. By the way Riad nuzzled shaking into his chest, he could only assume he was doing the same.

After a beat of calmed silence, Riad tensed a little bit. He clung to Roman just a bit tighter and took a small deep breath.

“Hey… Roman?” he whispered.

“Yes?”

“I, um…”

Riad shifted. He lifted his head and chewed on his lip, looking Roman in the eye.

He swallowed thickly.

“Do you want to be my boyfriend?”

A grin crept across Roman’s face, followed by a short, exasperated laugh. He felt himself soften as he stared into those familiar bronze and walnut oak eyes. Lifting a hand to brush Riad’s cheek, he let out a gentle sigh and nodded.

“I’d be honored.”

A relieved laugh broke through the quiet of the room, followed by gentle shushing and soft whispers. Little kissed peppered each of the faces of the new couple for the next few minutes until they held each other tight and settled into each other. Until the gentle lighting of the early, early morning began to brighten the sky, they whispered the night away.

It wasn’t until Riad forced Roman to shut his eyes did either of them get any rest.

The glow never left their faces.

([https://youtu.be/Ko7FeYiRyYU](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FKo7FeYiRyYU&t=Nzc4ZTc4ZmM5OTVmMWM0ODExMmRjM2RhNjkzNjgzZjY3NzE4MTViYyxIdEtaRW9lWQ%3D%3D&b=t%3AIlHxGyFX2hVap6VD42ujXQ&p=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutuberswithalex.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F176236717928%2Fprvl-vol-2-ch-8-a-worthy-knight&m=1))


	9. False Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day has finally come for Patton, Roman, Virgil, and Logan to choose their first official mission as Huntsmen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Nightmare, mentions of the death of a sibling, arguing
> 
> Behind the Scenes: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/177139284178/prvl-v2c9-false-start-behind-the-scenes

_He was on the shore._

_It was that time of day when the sky was just starting to tint to warmer colors, the limbo where it wasn’t quite the evening but wasn’t quite the afternoon. The tide splashed at the rocks under his feet; he looked down to find his pants rolled up and his bare feet splattered with sandy mud. Seagulls squawked and yelled in the distance._

_A hand tugged at his sleeve._

_“Virgil! Virgil, look!”_

_He turned just as she twisted away and pointed down the beach, away from the rocks they were on and towards the acres and acres of sand. Dad, Papi, and Aunt Diana sat on the beach towels, too far to make out any expressions, but their laughter echoed over the crashing of the waves._

_She looked back up at him, tugging at his hand. “There’s a crab!” she laughed. “It just walked over to us! It wants to be friends, Virgil! You have to meet it!”_

_Furrowing his brow, he leaned back, trying to resist her pulling. “What?! Crina, it’s a wild animal! It’s going to hurt us!”_

_“No, it won’t! It’s not a Grimm!” she shot back._

_“But it has those claw things!”_

_She pouted; leaning back with all her weight, she dangled on her heels and used his arm to keep upright. “Virgil, please?”_

_“I don’t want to,” he firmly answered. “And let go, you’re gonna fall.”_

_“Okay!”_

_“Wait, Crina, don’t—!”_

_With a giggle, she flopped onto the ground, throwing her arms out across the rocks as dirt speckled her indigo swimsuit. Her head narrowly avoided a sharp rock; he let out a yelp of fear, but she flung her flipflop towards him. He caught it just before it sailed over his head._

_“Then let’s go swimming!” she exclaimed._

_He frowned. “What if there’s sharks?”_

_“Dad says they can’t come this close to the shore unless they need help,” she replied._

_“But what about Grimm?” he asked. “What about the one Uncle Chao said he fought on his way to Vale? The Cefo—Cepal—”_

_“We’re not on the shore of Vale! This lake doesn’t even leave Anima! I learned so in class, and Miss Borealis never lies!”_

_Before he could say anything else, she scrambled to her feet and started to run towards the water. He gasped and clutched her flipflop to his chest._

_“What are you doing?!” he yelled._

_“Proving it!” she called back. “There’s nothin’ scary here, Virgil!”_

_“Crina, come back!”_

_She was waist deep in the water by now; he knew her well enough to understand that once she was this far, there was no convincing her to stop. Letting out a whimper, he cast a glance back towards the adults before throwing her shoe down and hurrying towards her._

_A flash of red caught his eye, off straight ahead in the water. He blinked and froze. It wasn’t glowing like the eye of Grimm, but something about it still made his blood run cold…_

_“Come on, Virgil! It’s fine!”_

_His eyes flicked down to her before snapping right back to the red. Something wasn’t right. This… This wasn’t…_

_A red cowboy hat was in the water._

_This wasn’t how this memory played out._

_Virgil gasped, blinking furiously as he looked down at himself; no longer was he wearing the clothes over his swim gear as he had been years ago, but instead he was clad in his regular outfit he wore nearly every day at Beacon. His weapon was nowhere to be seen. He looked back up to see the cowboy hat getting closer and closer, towards him and—_

_“Crina!”_

_She was treading water now, laughing and splashing towards him. Crina waved at him and beamed, but he cursed under his breath and started to wade through the water._

_“Crina, get out of there!” he yelled._

_“No, you come here! There’s nothing to be afraid of!”_

_“Crina, please, I’m serious!”_

_The water was starting to slow him down, but he pushed on as fast as he could; he spared a glance over his shoulder, thinking maybe he could call the adults for help, but he was greeted by a beach empty except for the crabs. Tears pricked at his eyes as he whirled back and dipped his front half into the water._

_Virgil hissed at the cold, but he kicked forward anyway. “Crina, hold on, I’m coming!”_

_Just as he reached out, Crina splashed him in the face, causing him to yelp and reel back from the salt water in his eyes. He heard laughing over his thundering heartbeat._

_“See? There’s nothing to be afraid of!” she giggled._

_As soon as he was able, Virgil blinked his eyes open and snatched her hand. “Crina, trust me, there’s a_ lot _to be afraid of right now!” he firmly stated. “We have to get out of here!”_

_She shook her head, humming. “You gotta get it, Virgil,” she replied, voice oddly calm for what it usually was when she had been at that age. “You gotta face your fears to get to the good stuff.”_

_“…Huh?”_

_Before Crina could say anything else, a hand in a red glove shot out of the water and snatched her shoulder, dragging her under the waves. Virgil screamed and dove after them._

_His breaths came in whooping gasps as he kicked and pulled against the current. She was just inches out of his grip, he could reach her if he tried, he just had to get a little further…_

_“Virgil!”_

_The world shook._

_“Virgil, come on!”_

_She was too far._

_“Come on, Nuckela-V!”_

_An ache settled into his chest, rapidly spreading through his body, his shoulders, his legs, his arms—_

_The world shook again. All that Virgil could see was black._

_Crina was gone._

_…But she had been for a very, very long time now._

_He wasn’t at the ocean. He was at Beacon._

_It was a dream._

_It was_ a dream.

It was a dream.

Letting out a groan at his aching body, he buried his face in his pillow and tried to pull his blankets over his head; the bed shook a few times, causing him to only moan louder.

“Stop…”

“No! Get up, you Sleeping Far-From-Beauty!” Roman’s voice boomed. His bed shook again, and Virgil finally realized that Roman was the cause. “It’s mission day! Mission day, Virgil! Get up!”

There was a sigh across the room. “Roman, please, leave him be,” Logan said. “He appears to be awake.”

“His eyes are still shut!”

“You gotta let him wake up on his own,” Patton added, voice muffled from behind a door somewhere.

The bouncing finally stopped. Virgil almost let out a sigh of relief.

“But what if we’re late?” Roman asked.

A laugh echoed through the room—one that Virgil only vaguely recognized. He cracked his eyes open at the sound.

“Don’t worry about that. Ozpin always gives this long-winded speech about that war eighty years ago and how that inspired the tradition of naming everyone after colors… It’s not really all that important. You can miss the first few minutes without any terrible consequences.”

Virgil blearily looked up at Roman, who was staring back at his own bed with a faint dusting over his cheeks; he craned his neck to follow his line of vision and saw Riad propped up on his elbows, smiling softly back.

Without much warning, Roman flapped his wings and dove towards Riad, tackling him back onto the mattress with a peck on the lips. The two erupted into giggling.

Letting out a disgusted grunt, Virgil forced himself past the aching to slowly push himself out of bed and head towards his and Patton’s closet.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

“…Bond cannot exist without effort.”

“Professor Ozpin’s already in the middle of his speech!” Logan yelped over the pounding of their sprinting feet.

“Thank you, Logan!” Roman panted. “We have ears!”

“Which is why today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace…”

“Gosh, we’re so late!” Virgil whimpered.

“And whose fault is that?!” Roman retorted.

“…Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it.”

“Boys, stop fighting!” Patton snapped. “We’re almost there!”

The four skidded to a stop at the edge of the amphitheater, doing their best to catch their breath as they hovered at the door. Ozpin’s speech continued, but they all kept quiet.

“As first year students, you will be tasked with shadowing a professional Huntsman or Huntress on a mission,” he said. Roman poked his head around the corner just in time to watch screens pop up around the room. “Some of you may be taken out of the kingdom for several days. Others may work within the walls for the rest of the week.”

“Boring,” he muttered under his breath.

“But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best.”

Applause began to fill the room as he walked off stage; Roman frantically waved the others over.

“Come on, now’s our chance!” he hissed.

Team PRVL quickly slid through the doors, doing their best to keep casual as they pushed into the dispersing crowd. Their eyes all flicked around as they scanned for any signs they’d been caught; after seeing all of the professors and staff had safely been distracted, they allowed themselves to relax.

“That could have been planned better…,” Patton sighed.

“Oh, how nice of you to join us!”

All four yelped and whirled around; Roman and Patton both tensed as soon as they saw the owner of the voice.

Melina put a hand over her mouth as she laughed. “You guys are so funny!” she giggled.

Logan adjusted his glasses, letting out a huff before he crossed his arms. “Team LMNN,” he said. “If you could give us a little warning before you sneak up on us next time…”

“Aw, but where’s the fun in that?” she replied.

A hand rested on her shoulder; Li raised his eyebrows at her. In an instant, the mischievous air melted off of her, and she looked back to PRVL and shrugged.

“Alright, I’m sorry.”

Li lifted his gaze away from Melina and turned it towards Patton, making brief eye contact; with a soft gasp, Patton snapped his eyes down and looked to the floor. He raised a hand to rub at the opposite arm as Roman subtly stood in front of him, shooting Li a cautious glare.

Letting out a hum, Li tilted his head to get a better view of Patton. “How was the dance?”

Patton’s head snapped up, eyes brightening with a twinge of hope. “I-It… It was great!” he exclaimed. “We had a really fun time! The music was good, and the punch was delicious…”

“That’s good,” Li interrupted. “Glad to hear it.”

A beat of silence fell over the group. Virgil and Logan both frowned and looked to Patton for answers, but he was too busy staring at Li to notice. A dumb, soft grin rested on his face.

“Right,” Roman said, glare still aimed at Li. “Well, we need to go choose our mission. We’re already late enough as it is, as Melina so kindly pointed out. Try not to let the Grimm kill you wherever you go.”

Melina let out a laugh and beamed. “Aw, you’re so sweet! Good luck on your mission, too!”

Taking Patton by the shoulder and turning him away, Roman waved a hand over his shoulder as he lead them away. Logan and Virgil glanced between each other and Team LMNN before hurrying after them.

“Uh, what the heck was that?” Virgil asked.

“If Li has the audacity to leave our poor Patton to go to the dance alone, he can handle a little rude behavior,” Roman grumbled.

Patton pulled himself out of Roman’s grip. “What? No!” he said. “He didn’t just leave me to go to the dance alone! He was busy! And see, he asked about it! He cares!”

Quirking an eyebrow, Roman shot him a look. “If he cared, he would have taken time out of his oh-so-busy schedule to go with you.”

“You don’t know that,” Patton replied. His eyes flicked a way as a scowl etched onto his face. “A—A stupid dance doesn’t determine that sort of thing.”

“Stupid? Patton, you were going on all night about how great it was!” Roman shot. “Don’t let yourself hate last night just because Li didn’t think it was worth his time!”

“I’m not!” Patton snapped, bringing his head back up to glare Roman down. “Li has nothing to do with it! It—I—Dancing with you was alright, I _guess_ , but the stupid music was too loud, and the dumb punch was gross, and—”

“That’s enough,” Logan interrupted, stepping between the two. “We’re not here to argue. Let’s just pick a mission and discuss this later, alright?”

Patton’s face reddened, and he quickly turned it to face the floor; Roman shook his head and crossed his arms, eyebrows furrowing at their leader. Logan and Virgil glanced at each other for a moment before Virgil reached up to rub the back of his neck.

“Logan’s right,” he said. “If we wait any longer, we’re gonna get stuck with something awful. We need to hurry up.”

Letting out a sigh, Roman nodded and looked towards the nearest screen. “Let’s check this one first.”

He pushed past the others to head over, and Logan cast one last glance at Patton before following.

Patton remained still, shoulders tensing as his eyes fell shut. His hand reached up to grip at his arm again. Biting down on his lip, a few shaky breaths fell out of him.

Cautiously, Virgil crept towards him, and he reached out to touch his arm. “Patton? Are you—?”

“I’m fine,” he snapped, ripping himself away from the touch. He turned his face away from Virgil’s sight. “I’m sorry.”

Without another word, he followed after Logan and Roman. Virgil swallowed thickly and did the same.

Logan shot him a quick glance before turning back to the screen in front of them. “Well, there’s three missions here we can choose from,” he informed. “There’s working as junior detectives in downtown Vale—”

“No,” Roman interrupted.

“Alright… We could join a Hunter starting next week on a Search and Rescue—”

“Absolutely not.”

Logan shot a glare at Roman before letting out a huff and turning to look at the bottom-most screen. “And finally, there’s Village Security in a place called Prism Village, starting ASAP. Are there any objections to that?”

He turned to give Roman a pointed look, but Roman was turned away, brow furrowed and arms crossed. “Well… That’s not too far from here, is it?” he asked.

“Not at all. If I remember correctly from my travels, it should only be about an hour by airship,” Logan answered. “It’s on the coast, however, so it is possible that we may be traveling by boat.”

“I know where it is, Logan; it’s hardly two day’s walk away from where I live,” Roman said.

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Then why’d you ask?”

“It was rhetorical!”

Patton huffed and pushed past them, dropping to his knees in front of the screen. “Does anybody not want to go on this one?”

“I’m fine with it.”

“It seems adequate enough.”

“Whatever you guys want.”

“Cool,” Patton said.

He tapped the screen, and a keyboard popped up; Patton typed in the letters _P, R, V,_ and _L_ before leaning back and listening as the computer processed it. As soon as the noise stopped, he glanced back at the others.

A squeal pierced the air, and Roman lifted his hands to cover his mouth. He bounced up and down and babbled out some gibberish; Logan raised an eyebrow at him.

“Are you alright, Roman?”

“This is it!” he yelled, hands flying into the air as his wings flapped so hard they nearly crashed into a couple of nearby students. “We’re going on a mission! Our _first mission!_ It’s finally happening!”

“Dude, relax. It’s not like we’re walking out of here and slicing Grimm up,” Virgil huffed. “We’ve probably still got hours to go before we do anything.”

“Still!”

All at once, four separate ringtones echoed in their pockets; the four simultaneously pulled their scrolls from their pockets and opened the screens.

Logan raised an eyebrow. “What in the world…?”

_New Group Chat: You, Roman Reptilia, Virgil Vengier, Patton Passio, Unknown Contact_

_Message from: Unknown Contact_

_–Hey, studying warriors! This is your Huntsman Captain speaking (AND THIS IS YOUR HUNTSMAN CAPTAIN YELLING!)! I hope you’re ready for an exciting week! Please get your luggage ready and meet me in Room 113 in the lecture hall. I’d like you to be quick, but don’t strain yourselves! See you soon!_

“He didn’t even give us his name?” Virgil muttered.

Patton got to his feet and brushed his knees free of dirt. “Well, kiddos,” he said, “I guess we should get going.”

He turned and pushed through the remaining students towards the exit; the rest of the team followed close behind.

* * *

The doors to the academic building slammed open, echoing through the empty halls so loudly that it nearly covered up the arguing that flooded in with the four sets of brisk footsteps. The flutter of wings sounded at the same time as a loud huff.

“Well, if it’s such a big deal that you need to call Daddy and Daddy, why don’t you just use your stupid scroll?!” Roman snapped.

“I told you, it died last night!” Virgil shot back. “How was I supposed to know they shut down the CCT for investigation after someone tried to break into it last night?! Besides, it didn’t take half as long to waste our time going there and back as it did for you to pack and repack all of your year’s supply of hair product!”

“So you admit it! It _was_ a waste of time!”

“How could it have not been?! What the hell else is there to do besides call my Dads there?!”

Logan let out a moan and rubbed his temple, taking a beat to hoist his duffel bag further over his shoulder. “Would you two please stop? Our Huntsman is going to hear you. Do you really want this to be his first impression of us?”

Virgil scoffed. “Not like it can get much worse for me. Roman already made the whole damn school see me as a villain; you think this guy hasn’t heard? It’s not gonna do much if he finds out I actually _enjoy_ talking to my family.”

_You insensitive jerk!_ Virgil’s mind screamed. _Patton’s right behind you!_

Sucking in a gasp, Roman stopped dead in his tracks and whirled around to face him. “Are you saying I don’t love my family?!”

“I’m _saying_ you’ve already ruined my reputation and refuse to apologize for it, and there’s nothing you can do that’s gonna make that any better!” Virgil yelled.

Roman’s face turned a deep scarlet, jaw clenching as he drew in a breath and pulled his shoulders back. His eyebrows twitched away from furrowed, instead giving his bare forehead a nice few creases. He gripped his ammo sash tightly as his eyes darted away.

“Is everything alright out there?”

All four heads snapped to look down the hall, towards the door where the voice had come from; Patton shot a quick glance between Virgil and Roman before inching forward, shifting his bag as he moved in front of them.

“Everything’s fine, just a little… spat,” he called. “Nothing to worry about!”

There was a pause, and then a zipper slowly sliding shut.

“Are ya sure? It sounded pretty intense to be just a spat,” the voice responded. “It’s alright if there’s some tension, ya know. I’m sure we can work through it all this week!”

Patton looked back to his teammates, watching as Roman continued to stare at the floor while Virgil’s glare bored into him. Logan’s eyes shut as he adjusted his glasses and sucked in a deep breath. Biting his lip, Patton tugged at the collar around his throat and shrugged.

“Um…”

“No matter! We can talk about that later!”

The voice cleared its throat as footsteps approached the door, stopping just before the owner stepped through. Again, it cleared its throat and sucked in a deep breath.

Fingertips slowly poked around the corner.

“Da, dadada da da da da…”

As the voice sang, Team PRVL could only stare at the arm gradually emerging from behind the door. A tan coat sat over top of a crisp, white dress shirt, and when it got above the elbow, a pair of pockets sat on the upper arm, one with a picture of a snowflake and the other of fire. Not long after that, the body of the person started to appear, and they saw an orange pen in the front pocket next to a light blue tie.

A shock of purple hair was soon after that. All four felt their hearts stop.

“Dr. Picani…?” Virgil whispered.

Dr. Picani shot a wink as he continued to sing. He leaned dangerously on one leg, showing three more pockets on the other side of his coat.

“Di da-dele-da-dele— _Whoa!_ ”

Dr. Picani stumbled, the weight of his grey and blue duffel bag tipping him over, and he crashed to the ground unceremoniously. Before any of the students had a chance to react, he jumped back to his feet and brushed the dirt off of his coat.

He adjusted his tie and cleared his throat, shooting a smile at them. “New students! Do you how do?”

The four blinked in stunned silence.

After a beat, Roman shook himself out of the trance and raised an eyebrow at him. “Dr. Picani, we’ve… had you for Psychology all semester,” he pointed out.

“Yes, all four of us are in your three o’clock Monday-Wednesday-Friday period,” Logan added.

Laughing, Dr. Picani waved them off. “I know that!” he said. “But that’s for lectures and classroom stuff! You’re all new to the whole job-shadowing thing, aren’t ya?”

Patton, Logan, and Roman glanced at Virgil, who pressed his lips together and looked away.

“Well…”

“Of course you are!” Picani interrupted. “Therefore, you’re all new students to me for this!”

“Wait,” Logan said. His eyes snapped up to look at Dr. Picani. “Wait, wait, wait—Are _you_ the Huntsman we’re shadowing on this mission?!”

Dr. Picani grinned and gestured to his duffel bag, which was still laying on the floor. “Well, I wouldn’t have packed all this just for a friendly greeting in the hallway, now, would I have?”

“But… You’re a Psychology professor,” Virgil stated.

“Doctor,” Patton corrected.

“Whatever.”

“Aw, just because I have a PhD in Psychology doesn’t mean it’s the only thing I’m good at!” Dr. Picani pointed out. “I’ve roughed up a Grimm or two in my day!”

Roman frowned. “Aren’t you the professor that always says violence is never the answer?”

“Doctor.”

“Patton.”

Letting out a hum, he placed his hands into his pants pockets and looked at the ceiling. “Yeah, when it comes to disagreements with other folks who might not think the same as you. There’s always a better way to solve a problem than to punch your way through it then. But when it comes to Grimm, I believe it’s okay to kill when they’re attacking innocent people, even though I will admit I’m not particularly fond of doing it myself.”

Dr. Picani reached down and grabbed his duffel bag; he hoisted it over his shoulder before shooting Team PRVL a smile.

“And that is _exactly_ why I chose to be the shadowing Huntsman for the mission you kids chose,” he stated. “Prism Village is full of a lot of people who are kind and lover-ly, and with the Grimm between kingdoms getting worse and worse, it’s our job to protect those people. If I can use my skills to show you how to use yours, then that’s the greatest thing I can do as your professor.”

“Doctor.”

Patton slapped his hand over his mouth as soon as the word slipped out, and everyone turned to look at him; Dr. Picani giggled and nodded.

“Thank you, Patton,” he laughed.

Pulling his eyes away from Patton to look at their leading Huntsman, a frown etched deep onto Virgil’s face. “Dr. Picani… What did you mean when you said the Grimm were getting worse?” he softly asked. “Is that true?”

The smile on his face dimmed. His eyes darted away as he sucked his lips into his mouth, forming a perfectly straight line across his face. Tilting his face down a bit, Dr. Picani offered them a slow and thoughtful nod.

“Well… Yes, I’m afraid the amount of Grimm attacks these past few months has gotten a tad worse than in the past,” he admitted. “No one’s really quite sure what’s going on, but… I-It’s not really anything you kids should be worrying about yet. Yeah, we might have a little extra work to do than usual on this mission, and some villages might be a little bit more at-risk than most times for Grimm attacks, but I’m sure we’ll have it all figured out and taken care of by the time you graduate. Nothing for you to worry about when we’re in Prism Village; I hardly think you’ll even notice a difference!”

The grin plastered right back onto Dr. Picani’s face, and he pointed to the door behind them. When none of them moved, he began to walk towards it.

“Now, come on! Our airship isn’t gonna wait all day for us, and we _do_ have a bit of a schedule to keep.”

The four glanced at each other for a beat, and then Patton and Roman shrugged and followed after him. Logan moved to do the same, but a hand caught his wrist before he could get far. He turned to look as Virgil bit down on his lip and looked to the ground.

“Uh… Logan?” he whispered. “Is there any chance I could use your scroll at some point today…?”

Logan frowned, but nodded regardless. “Of course. Are you… alright?”

Virgil quickly nodded, yanking his hand back to shove them into his pockets. “Of course I’m fine,” he huffed. “I just—I wanted… Uh…” He growled and squeezed his eyes shut. “Nevermind. Forget it. I’ll just… use mine when we get to the village.”

“Are you sure? Virgil, I’d be more than willing to let you—”

“I said, forget it. It’s fine,” Virgil snapped.

Logan lifted his hands. “Alright.”

Virgil hunched in on himself and stormed ahead; his stomping footsteps echoed through the empty halls, leaving Logan to sigh and follow after him.

By the time he caught up to where the others were waiting just outside the door, Virgil had already shoved by and was on his way to the docks. Roman and Patton shot Logan a questioning look, but all he could offer as an answer was a shrug. Patton shook his head and hurried after Virgil while Roman bit his lip and followed at a much slower pace. Logan remained close to him.

Dr. Picani paid close attention to the scene with a watchful eye. Pressing his lips together, he let out a soft hum before he tapped something into his scroll and pushed ahead to join them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SOOO announcement time!! The next chapter of this will be... in the future. On an undetermined date.
> 
> I'm not giving up on this at all, but I have decided that I will be going back to school this semester, and I'm leaving tomorrow for band camp. I'll be pretty much out the whole week, and then classes will be starting the following Monday. I do have part of C10 written, so hopefully the wait won't be as long as it could be, but I did want to give you folks a little bit of a warning that it might be a little bit of time.
> 
> Again, I'm not giving up on this. I just have a couple of things that take priority over this. I'm sorry for making you wait, but I will not give up!


	10. Prism Village

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the first day of the mission, Patton, Roman, Virgil, and Logan are guided into the action by Dr. Picani. For some, this is a moment of glory; others, however, are finding it a little overwhelming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *drops this and runs* IM SORRY I HAD SCHOOL
> 
> Warnings: Grimm death, arguing, mention of the death of a grandparent, tail end of a nightmare  
> Read the behind the scenes here: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/181981716788/prvl-v2c10-prism-village-behind-the-scenes

“Catch me if you can!”

“No fair, you’re faster!”

The little girl laughed as she ran through the trees, ignoring the cries of the boy behind her. Sunlight streamed through the leaves and clouds; it blinded her for a moment when she looked up, but she pressed on regardless.

“Taimi, come on!” the boy yelled. “We gotta go home!”

She leapt and latched onto the bark of a tree. “Not if our parents can’t find us!”

As she scurried up and around the trunk, the boy stood at the base and put his hands on his hips. “It’s only for lunch. We can play after!”

“But I don’t  _want_  to play later. I want to play now!” Taimi replied. She swung around and sat on one of the branches before pouting down at her friend. “C’mon, Takumi! If we’re up here, they won’t be able to see us!”

Takumi glared. “You  _know_  I can’t climb that high. I’m not a faunus.”

Groaning, she threw her head back. “This isn’t  _that_  high! I’m lower than I was yesterday!”

“No, you’re not! You just can’t tell ‘cause you climb everything _!_ ”

“I can’t help it!” she said. “Squirrels feel safe in the air!”

Takumi raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “But you’re not  _in_  the air. You’re in a tree.”

Taimi pouted and looked away. “Same thing.”

Sighing, Takumi let his arms fall. He cast a glance behind him towards the direction where their little town would be, had they been in sight of it. Barely, he could make out the path they had come from.

He looked back into the tree. “We  _really_  need to go, Taimi. Don’t you wanna eat something?”

“No. I’m not hungry.”

“But you’ll have more energy to play after you eat!” he pointed out. “Don’t you like what your parents make?”

Taimi scowled. She turned and rested her back against the tree trunk, crossing her arms. “I don’t  _want_  to go home. I want to stay with you.”

“You can’t eat with us every day, Taimi…,” he said.

“Why not?”

“’Cause— You just can’t!”

“That’s not a reason.”

Takumi glared and balled up his fists. He whirled around before marching back towards the path.

“Fine. Whatever. Stay here in the trees if you’re not gonna go home.  _I’m_ gonna go eat some mac and cheese,” he hollered.

As he walked away, Taimi huffed and looked away. Insults of all sorts flew into her mind, but she held her tongue. Her stomach let out a rumble.

Down below, the bushes rustled.

Taimi’s eyes snapped wide open as they shot to the noise. She scrambled up to her feet, tiny claws digging into the bark. Her heart pounded, and her breaths quickened. It felt like she was standing there for ages, just watching, waiting, frozen in place.

A tuft of black fur was all she needed to see before she took off, leaping from branch to branch.

“Takumi!” she screamed.

There was a roar and galloping stomps behind her; a sob managed to make its way out through her heaving breaths. Just as she was starting to grow weary, Taimi saw the back of her friend’s head, her energy reviving at the thought of safety.

“ _Takumi!_ Help!”

He turned to look, but his eyes flicked to the ground behind her, and he screamed.

“Beowolf!”

The Grimm let out another roar. Taimi flinched.

Her foot slipped off of the branch.

As she plummeted towards the ground, Taimi found that her body seemed to be stuck in one position. Her voice couldn’t scream, her heart wouldn’t beat, her limbs refused to move to brace for impact. All that she was able to do was stare as the ground came closer and closer.

There was a flash of black, red, and white. She smashed into it.

“Gotcha!”

Taimi gasped as the stranger pulled her against his chest, offering a relieved, comforting smile. She could only stare back with wide eyes until her senses came back to her and she gripped onto his shirt.

He had  _wings_.

Once she was for sure secured in his arm, the man swooped down and landed in front of Takumi. He drew a sword from his side and held it towards the Beowolf, keeping his grip on Taimi tight.

“Back, you fiend!” he yelled. “Not another step closer!”

It stalked forward. The man growled and puffed out his chest.

“Alright, fine! If that’s how you would like to–!”

Gunshots echoed through the trees, and the Beowolf’s feet encased in ice. As it roared, a strap and a blue book wrapped around its arms and pinned it; another man flew down and skidded across the grass in front of the faunus. He shot a glare back at him, and they could see three scars across his cheek.

“Roman, please. Enough with the theatrics,” he said.

Roman huffed and let his arm drop to his side. “Well,  _excuse me_ for trying to make this less traumatizing for the children!”

The Beowolf roared and twisted, yanking at the strap around it; the other man lurched as the handle in his hands launched him forward.

“It will be significantly less traumatizing if you ensure no one is going to die!” he yelled. “Give me some help!”

Takumi grabbed onto Roman’s leg at the same time that Taimi gripped at his sash. “Are we—?!”

“No one is going to die,” Roman interrupted, sheathing his sword to pet his hair down. “Don’t you worry, your highnesses! Logan and I will protect you with every bit of aura we have in us! I promise, you will be safe with the two of us around!”

A third man dove in, spearing the Beowolf with a long, black pole. They fell to the ground immediately.

“…Three,” Roman said. “The  _three_  of us around.”

Logan yanked his book into his hands at the same time the new man freed his pole from its back. Together, their weapons transformed into guns, and they shot the Grimm until black smoke filled the air.

Roman held up a fist, beaming at the two. “Well done, my fellow Huntsmen!” he exclaimed. “Way to defeat the dastardly beast and save our prince and princess!”

The man with the pole scowled at him. He stormed forward and jabbed a finger into Roman’s chest.

“What was  _that?!_ ” he yelled. “Why were you just standing here instead of helping Logan beat that thing?!”

“Virgil, I  _was_  helping! I was making sure these two were out of harm’s way!” Roman shot back.

“Huh, interesting,” the man retorted. “You know what would have been a better way to do that, though? Getting rid of what could have killed them in the first place!”

Taimi whimpered and buried her face in Roman’s chest; he placed a hand on her back and took a deep breath in and out.

Footsteps approached, followed by a loud sigh. “If you two continue this arguing, all you are going to do is attract more Grimm,” Logan said. “Both with your anger, and the fear you are causing the children. I advise you both to stop before we have any more trouble on our hands.”

“Once again, you aren’t our leader. We do not have to listen to you,” Roman replied.

“Wait. Where is Patton?”

A long scream pierced the air, urging the five to look up to the sky; a blue and tan blur smashed into one of the trees next to them before it could be identified. After a moment of thuds and yelps, a fourth man dropped from the branches, landing heavily on his face. His cloak pooled around him.

“Ow…”

“Found him,” Virgil muttered.

A fifth man carefully lowered himself to the ground as the fourth pushed himself up. They both adjusted their glasses before looking at the group in front of them.

The fifth man’s face lit up when he saw Takumi and Taimi. “Oh, aren’t you two adorable!” he exclaimed. He rushed forward and kneeled in front of Takumi. “Did ya get hurt at all? How’re you two feeling right now?”

Takumi reeled back and tucked his face behind Roman’s leg. The man blinked, and then he smiled.

“Oh, right! I’m sure you’re still spooked from all of that, yeah? Well, my name is Dr. Picani, and these are my students,” he explained. “We’re here to help you, okay?”

Taimi blinked. “Are you Hunters?”

“Only the best of the best!” Roman said.

With a gasp, she clutched his sash and smashed their foreheads together; a beaming grin lit up her entire face. “ _Really?!_  Here?! Why?!”

Roman laughed and pushed her away. “A fan of action, I see!”

“Uh-huh! I’m gonna be a Huntress when I grow up!” she yelled. “I’ll be bigger and stronger than Pyrrha Nikos and Rudo Grace and Bologna Desmond put together!”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Bologna?”

“I think she means Bellona,” Virgil muttered.

“Big dreams, too? Well, I’m sure the Grimm are already quaking in their armor at the thought of you!” Roman said. “Tell me, will you be going to Signal Academy when you’re old enough?”

Taimi nodded, her coils bouncing in every direction. “And when we’re done there, Takumi and I are gonna go to Beacon!”

“Stop telling everyone I’m going with you!” Takumi huffed.

“You’re coming with me whether you like it or not!”

Chuckling, Dr. Picani took Takumi by the hand and began to lead them down the path. “That’s alright, Takumi. You can be whatever you want! You don’t have to be a Huntsman if that’s not what you want to be!”

Takumi whirled around and stuck out his tongue. “Told you, Taimi!”

Taimi shot him a glare before scurrying up Roman’s chest to sit on his shoulders. “Then you’re gonna have to move to Vale with me to do whatever boring office job you’re gonna do. I don’t wanna leave you!”

“Oh, they’re so precious,” Patton sighed.

Roman gripped her ankles and peered up with a smile. She looked back down and grinned a toothy, front-toothless grin.

“I’m gonna be like you,” she whispered.

 

* * *

 

 

“Taimi, darling, please—”

“No!”

As the group stood in front of the big, orange house, Roman couldn’t help himself. He squeezed his eyes shut and shook with silent laughter as the little girl hung off of his neck. “I’m still going to be around town for a few days,” he attempted to reassure. “You’ll see me again!”

Taimi simply shook her head and clutched tighter.

With a sigh, Takumi’s mother crossed her arms and pressed her lips together. “I don’t understand what the problem is, sweetheart. Is it because he’s a faunus?”

“We do tend to pack bond immediately,” Roman pointed out, casting a glance back at Patton.

“He’s a faunus  _and_  a Huntsman!” Taimi squealed. “And he’s cool! I’m never gonna meet someone like you again…!”

“Oh, come now, there are plenty of Hunters who are faunus! Sure, they might not be as cool as I, but they’re wonderful all the same!” Roman replied.

Taimi shook her head again, but before she could say anything else, Takumi’s mother stepped forward and finally pulled her away. She tried to keep her hold on him, but all that she succeeded in was leaving long, little claw marks across his skin.

A small, puzzled laugh erupted out of the woman’s mouth. “I haven’t seen her cling to anyone like this since she and Takumi met! You must have made quite the impression on her,” she said. “I’m so sorry if they were any trouble.”

“No, not at all!” Dr. Picani exclaimed. “Honestly, I think this was a great way to start our mission! They were both perfect little angels!”

“Well, that’s good to hear. Thank you again so, so much for protecting them,” she replied. “Are you sure there isn’t anything we can do to repay you? My husband and I owe you a  _lot_ , and so do Taimi’s parents.”

Patton waved her off. “Oh, there’s no need for that!”

“We were simply doing our job,” Logan added.

The woman nodded and set Taimi back on the ground next to Takumi; when the little girl made an attempt to dash back to Roman, she scooped her right back up into her arms. “Alright, but don’t hesitate to ask us if you need anything, okay? We’d be more than happy to help. Prism Village is lucky to have you guys this week!”

“We’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Thank you!” Dr. Picani exclaimed. He then turned towards Team PRVL and added, “Now, I think we’ve kept our host this week waiting long enough. How’s about we head on over and I give you a little tour of the town on the way?”

“That sounds great!” Patton said.

Taimi let out a whine and reached towards Roman. “Do you really have to go…?”

Roman felt his heart drop. With a gentle smile, he reached over and ran a hand through her hair.

“Hey, like I said, you’ll see me around!” he laughed. “Trust me, you can’t keep me away from any adoring little fans such as yourself!”

“Oh, brother…,” Virgil groaned.

Taimi wrapped her little hands around his elbow. “Can you save me again?”

“If you are in trouble, my little princess, I will  _always_  be willing to answer the call.”

Carefully, he extracted his arm away from her grip; he tossed a wave back as the group walked away.

The moment they were out of earshot, Patton shot Roman a grin. “That was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! I can’t believe she clung to you like that!”

“Oh, come now! It’s not  _that_  hard to see just how loved I am!” Roman laughed. “Why, I managed to get a man as wonderful as Riad to fall in love with me; who’s to say the whole world isn’t next?”

“Now  _that’s_  the kind of self-love I like to hear!” Dr. Picani exclaimed, smiling back at the students. “Keep that attitude up and the Grimm will be running for the hills! Or, well, at least out of the town, that is.”

Logan cast a glance around the street. People all around, both inside and out of the vast array of colorful houses, were watching them as they went, but not out of disdain or hatred; in fact, many turned and whispered to each other with beaming grins and wide eyes.

Swallowing thickly, he turned away from the attention. “Dr. Picani, what… What even is our mission?” he asked. “I understand that we are to be practicing Village Security, but how severe is the breach? Are we also to be studying what might be causing this increase in Grimm activity in the area, or researching a way to bring it down?”

“Yeah, and why’s everyone staring at us…?” Virgil lowly added.

“Oh, well, that question’s easy!” Dr. Picani said. “It’s been a while since any professional Hunters have been here, let alone any that came from Beacon. I think the last one was…”

Dr. Picani stopped in his tracks, a deep frown etched on his face as he stared at the ground. Team PRVL glanced at each other before Patton stepped forward.

“Uh… Dr. Picani?”

He blinked, mouth parting open just a bit. “Geez, I-I didn’t realize it’s been so long! Eleven years really flies by when you’re not paying attention!” He turned back to them and laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I guess it’s been a lot longer than I’d thought—the last Beacon graduate to work in this area was Bellona Desmond!”

Four pairs of eyes widened; Roman began to splutter.

“I- Bell-  _What?!”_

“Mm-hm! In fact, it was in this little town that she spent a lot of her time after Team BYRD broke up,” he continued. “She didn’t live that far from here, so she was usually on-call anytime they needed a Huntress. After she died, her late husband replaced her, but he graduated from Haven.”

“A-Are we—Are we going to get to meet  _Bellona Desmond’s husband?!_ ” Roman screeched, causing the others to flinch.

As soon as he recovered, Dr. Picani laughed and shook his head. “Aw, I’m sorry, Roman. Y’see, that’s the reason we’re here! He’s far away on a mission right now, so the town’s been in need of a Hunter or two the last couple of weeks.”

Roman let out a harrumph, earning a snicker out of Virgil. He shot him a glare just as Dr. Picani lead them down the street again, turning at the corner. Virgil only responded with a roll of his eyes before he froze.

Past the couple of blocks of rainbow houses in front of them, the sharp drop of a cliff loomed. Deep, dark water lasted for miles and miles beyond that. He squinted to search for any sign of land, but there was nothing until the horizon.

Only ocean.

Virgil swallowed thickly and glanced to Logan; sure enough, he too was rooted to the spot, face pale and brow knit. Carefully, he reached over and took his hand. When Logan flinched, Virgil only squeezed it tighter before pulling him along to catch up with the others.

“So, uh—” Virgil cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact with the others. “Where exactly are we going right now?”

Dr. Picani only smiled back at him.

“Oh, you’ll see.”

Logan’s grip tightened. Virgil’s wasn’t far behind.

 

* * *

 

 

“There it is!”

Dr. Picani took off running down the street, heading towards a smaller, fenced-off dark grey house at the end of the road. It stood out amongst the pastels and neons surrounding it, but the yard made up for the colors the walls lacked. The grass was a bright, healthy green on the right side, while the left was a rainbow of the vegetables and plants growing in the small garden. A line of various flowers framed the front of the house.

Somewhere in the middle of the garden, a dog barked. Dr. Picani gasped and shoved through the gate.

“Herbert, no! Not the cabbages!”

Dr. Picani dropped his dufflebag onto the path to the front door as he carefully stepped his way around the vegetables and towards the corn. He cast a glance back when Patton and Roman ran into the yard.

“Patton! How’s about you go knock on the door and let them know we’re here?” he asked. “I’ve got to save Elliott’s veggies!”

“Do you need any help?” Patton replied, craning his neck to look past him.

“Oh, no! Herbert may be feisty, but he’s just a little pup! I can handle him. Oh, and if you want to greet Elliott in the polite way, they go by they/them pronouns, so call them Mx. instead of Mr. or Ms., okay?”

Patton nodded and headed to the door; he shot a glance back at Roman, who simply shrugged his shoulders, before taking a deep breath and turning back to the dark wood in front of him.

_Knock, knock, kno-knock, knock!_

There was a beat, and then the door swung open. The person standing in front of Patton blinked, tilting their head and furrowing their brow.

“Can I help you?” they asked.

Patton bit down on his lip. “Um—”

“Hey, Elliott!” Dr. Picani called, now hidden by the corn. “It’s just us! Can you let Team PRVL in while I take care of this? Herbert’s getting into the cabbages again, the hungry little thing!”

Elliott frowned and stepped outside, looking over to the garden. “Um… Herbert’s sleeping on the couch right now,” they hollered over.

There was a pause.

“Is that so?”

A growl sailed through the corn. Dr. Picani let out a hum.

“Oh. Well, you’re certainly not Herbert.”

A violent bark sounded, and Dr. Picani let out a yelp; Team PRVL grabbed their weapons and moved to run over, but there was a scuffle and a zapping before any of them could even reach the garden.

Black smoke lifted into the air as Dr. Picani emerged, readjusting his coat and clearing his throat.

“Well. That’s one less Beowolf we’ll have to take care of,” he stated.

He walked over and picked up his dufflebag as if nothing happened. Turning to Elliott, he grinned and opened his arms.

“Good to see you again!”

Elliott laughed and covered their face, doubling over a bit as they walked over. “Gods, Emile, you’re a nightmare.”

“Ah, well, hopefully I’m a good one,” Dr. Picani replied.

“That’s not how nightmares work.”

Elliott and Dr. Picani hugged before they turned and faced the others, arms still wrapped around each other.

“Boys, I’d like you to meet Elliott!” Dr. Picani announced. “They’re going to be hosting us this week until we have to go back to Beacon!”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Elliott said. “Emile’s told me a lot about you guys already.”

Roman raised an eyebrow. “He has?”

“Yup! I promised them that I would let them know whatever I could about the team they’d be hosting as soon as I found out myself.”

“And, as always, he may have gotten a bit carried away…,” Elliott added, turning and heading back to the front door.

Dr. Picani lifted his free arm, mouth dropping open. “Wha-Isay-wha-Isay,  _what now?_  When do I  _ever_  get carried away?”

Elliott rolled their eyes. “Oh, only every once in a while,” they deadpanned. “Come on, let me show you guys where you’re staying.”

They walked through the front door, Dr. Picani not far behind; Team PRVL all shot glances at each other as soon as they were alone.

“Well… This is certainly going to be a mission,” Roman muttered.

Logan shook his head. “Agreed.”

“Aw, come on! This is going to be great!” Patton cheered. “We get to see what Dr. Picani’s like outside of the classroom!”

“I thought you and Virgil already learned at the staff party over break,” Roman pointed out.

Virgil let out a groan, squeezing his eyes shut. “Can we agree not to bring up  _anything_  about break during this? I’d rather not think about it…”

“Come on, boys!” Dr. Picani’s voice sailed out. “We haven’t got all day, ya know!”

Patton waved the others towards the door. “Coming!”

The group stepped into the home, finding themselves in a large living room not unlike the outside; the black carpet matched the black leather furniture, which was all pushed against the dark gray walls to make room for the two mattresses laying in the middle of the floor. A pile of pillows and blankets sat on the edge. Beyond that, there was a small chunk of empty wall leading into a room with bright yellow wallpaper. It was thin and wide, leaving just enough space for a dining table and a small kitchen.

On the other side of the table was a glass sliding door that lead to a screened in porch. Patton sucked in a soft breath at the sight.

“It’s beautiful,” he whispered. “Elliot, how did you manage to get a house with such a perfect view of the ocean?!”

They paused halfway up the staircase and glanced down at him. “Oh, uh, my grandfather left it for me when he passed away. I’ve had it for a couple years now, so… Yeah.” With a shrug, their sentence trailed off. They then pointed to the mattresses and added, “Anyway, that’s where you guys are sleeping. Sorry it’s not more, but this house is kinda small, so this is the best I could do. Emile, you’re gonna be in the spare room with Herbert.”

A little  _boof_  sounded, and they all turned in time to see a pair of golden ears pop over the arm of the couch. Dr. Picani gasped and dropped to his knees.

“There you are! Hot-diddly-dog, today’s my lucky day!” he exclaimed.

In a flurry of movement, a small corgi leapt off of the couch and dashed into his arms, knocking him clean over. Everyone moved to check on him, but they relaxed when he started to cackle.

Elliot put their hands on their hips. “Herbert, come on! What have I told you about jumping on Emile like that?”

“No, don’t—don’t make him stop!” Dr. Picani squealed. “I love him!”

Herbert seemed to notice the strangers at that moment, and he scurried over to sniff at their feet; when he got to Patton, their leader leaned down, and his hand hovered in the air. Herbert put his front paws on his thighs and smashed his head into Patton’s palm.

“He’s precious!”

Elliot giggled. “Yeah, he really likes to be pet.”

Patton sat on the floor and let Herbert crawl into his lap, rubbing him all over as he sniffed and sniffed.

Dr. Picani climbed to his feet and sighed. “Well! How about we take a little time to unpack and relax?” he suggested. “I think we’ve all earned a break, don’t you?”

“We’ve only killed one Beowolf,” Logan pointed out. “Two, if you include the one in Elliot’s yard.”

“Logan’s right, we’ve hardly done a thing! Why, when Trix was on  _her_  first shadowing mission, she’d already killed a Death Stalker three times her size!” Roman said.

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “We’ve only been here for an hour.”

“Exactly!”

“And we’ll be killing plenty of Grimm in the coming days. There’ll plenty of time for you to catch up to her. Trust me, I know a thing or two about sibling rivalries; you don’t need to worry about a thing,” Dr. Picani stated, shooting Virgil a wink.

Virgil raised an eyebrow, but he turned and started heading up the stairs before he could ask anything. Elliot followed. Team PRVL all looked at each other, only able to offer silence.

Letting out a huff, Virgil glanced at the ocean before pacing over to the front window. “I don’t like this,” he growled. “Something isn’t  _right._  A Grimm shouldn’t have been able to make it that far into town in the first place; how do we know there aren’t more?!”

“I agree. We have a job to do, and we should be doing it,” Logan added.

“Come on, you two,” Patton said, craning his neck away from where Herbert’s nose sniffed carefully at his collar. “Dr. Picani knows what he’s doing. I’m sure there’s a really good reason for making us wait like this!”

Virgil tapped his fingers against his leg. His eyes flickered back and forth across the empty street, and he chewed on his lip. Quietly, he shook his head and jogged to his bag.

“No. No, I can’t do this,” he stated. He yanked Sangria Salvia into his hand and started towards the door. “Someone’s gonna get hurt if we don’t get out there right now. We gotta fight!”

“Whoa, whoa!”

Roman flew in front Virgil just as his hand was reaching for the doorknob; he placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back. Virgil glared, and Roman lifted his hands in defense.

“Look, Patton is right. Dr. Picani has been at this far longer than the rest of us have! Don’t you think he’s trustworthy?” he asked. “Besides, even if you don’t want to listen to  _him—_ as foolish as that sounds, going against the wishes of our lead Huntsman –you at least should listen to your team leader. Patton says we should do as he says, so that is what we shall do!”

Virgil sneered. “Oh, you want me to listen to  _you_? Sounds like a great idea, considering what happened last time.”

Face flushing, Roman glared. “That wasn’t what I meant!”

“Boys, stop.”

The two turned to watch as Patton climbed to his feet; he gently set Herbert on the floor before picking up his bag and raising a stern eyebrow at them.

“The longer we stand here arguing, the more time it’s going to take before we can move on with our mission,” he said. “We can unpack for ten minutes. I mean, really, it’s not like the whole town’s going to die if we step away for a little bit!”

As if on cue, there was a blood-curdling scream outside. Roman looked at Patton and raised his eyebrows.

“You were saying?”

Virgil shoved past him and sprinted out of the door. “Dude, come  _on!”_

As soon as he made it past the front gate, another scream echoed down the street; Virgil snapped his head to look at the corner of the block, and a loud growl followed. He cursed under his breath and took off running.

“Get away from my house, you monster!” a woman screamed.

He skidded around the bend just in time to watch an Ursa smash its paw into the wall of a bright yellow house. A woman stood nearby, throwing whatever rocks and debris were closest to her. Nearby, a man stood silently with his face in his hands.

A piece of wood knocked the Ursa in the head, and it turned to look at her. She bared her teeth and grabbed a piece of shattered glass.

“That’s right, back off!”

It roared and charged. Virgil leapt.

Just as it was about to land an attack, Sangria Salvia spliced into its back, and it roared and stumbled backwards. Virgil planted his feet and pulled down as hard as he could; it toppled, and he used his pole to roll it onto its stomach. Yanking it out, he snapped it in half and fired a couple of shots into its head.

As it evaporated, Virgil climbed to the ground. He stared at the smoke as he caught his breath.

Behind him, there was a short, frazzled laugh.

“Oh, my gods, you’re our hero!”

Virgil’s eyes widened. He snapped around to look at the woman.

“I’m sorry?”

She beamed and cackled, running a hand through her dark, coiley hair. “I can’t believe that just happened! I thought we were gonna die for sure!”

“I-I’m sorry, I should’ve gotten here sooner, I didn’t mean to—”

“You just saved our lives!” she interrupted. She walked over and placed her hands on either of his cheeks, yanking him in to kiss his forehead. “Who are you, what’s your name?”

Virgil swallowed thickly, his heart pounding in his chest. His eyes flicked to the crowd rapidly gathering to asses the damage, to the man stoically staring at the smoke, to the woman and her tired, grateful smile. He watched at the rest of his team and Dr. Picani ran to the scene, slowing when they saw that the job was already done.

He opened his mouth. “Uh… Virgil…?”

The woman yanked him into a bone-crushing hug; he couldn’t hold back his yelp. “Oh, Virgil,” she whimpered. “Virgil, Virgil, Virgil. Thank you so, so much. I don’t know what we would have done without you.”

“Uh… You’re… welcome?”

Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around her and patted her on the back. His eyes met Patton’s, who shot him a beaming grin and a thumbs up.

Virgil pressed his lips together and looked to that ground.

 

* * *

 

“Are you okay?”

Virgil snapped out of his daze with a gasp, looking up as Patton sat down next to him on the mattress. His eyes flicked back and forth between his leader and his scroll; after a moment, he did his best to offer a reassuring smile and gestured to the device.

“Yeah, I just…” He cleared his throat. “I just can’t get through to my dads. No signal.”

“Oh. Right. I’m sorry,” Patton said.

Shrugging, Virgil set it to the side and tucked his face into his knees. “S’fine.”

Silence fell. They listened quietly to the sounds of Logan and Elliot making dinner, and the muffled conversation of Roman and Dr. Picani on the back porch. Virgil didn’t dare look towards the window, even though it was almost too dark to see the ocean by now.

Patton shifted and placed his hand on the soft blanket they sat on. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he whispered. “It’s okay if you’re not, or if you don’t want to talk about it, it’s just… You’ve been really quiet since we got back from patrol. Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, Pat, I-I’m just stressed about the mission, it’s really not a big deal,” Virgil replied, tucking his face further away. “Seriously, don’t—don’t worry about it, I can handle it on my own, it’s fine.”

Tilting his head, Patton tried to peer at his face. “It doesn’t seem like it’s fine.”

Virgil was silent. He let out a sigh.

Quietly, Patton reached over and placed a hand on his arm. “You can talk about it, if you want. I’ll help however I can.”

Virgil looked up at him, and he offered a gentle smile. His eyes fell to his scroll.

_ERROR: Low Signal  
_ _Message saved in drafts_

He shut his eyes.

“I’m not a hero.”

Patton paused and shifted closer. “What do you mean?”

“That woman that I saved earlier today,” Virgil said, “The one the Ursa was attacking. She said I was a hero, and it—it’s not true.”

“What are you talking about? You saved her life!” Patton pointed out. “Of  _course_  you’re a hero!”

“No, I’m  _not_. I didn’t do anything special! Just because I made it there before you guys did doesn’t mean I’m good!” he shot back, ripping away from his touch. “They didn’t see my semblance; they don’t know who I am! They don’t know anything about me! How do they know I’m not a member of the White Fang or something?!”

Patton held up his hands. “Whoa, kiddo!”

“I’m still a villain, don’t they get that?! I don’t deserve that title, Patton, and I…”

He trailed off, eyes drifting to the window. The moonlight reflected off of the water, and if he wasn’t so freaked out already, he almost could let himself think the waves were another Grimm.

A faint, childlike laugh echoed in the back of his mind. He sighed and let his head hang.

“…I shouldn’t get it. Not when there’s so many more people I could have saved.”

Patton watched him for a long moment, mouth opening and closing as he struggled for words. After a while, he simply detached his cape from his collar and draped it across Virgil’s shoulders.

“I’m sorry, Virgil,” he whispered. “How can I help?”

Virgil shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know.”

Patton wrapped his arms around him. Virgil rested his head on his shoulder.

 

* * *

 

 

_His mother crawled over to him and kneeled, reaching her hand over to place it on his shoulder. “It’s okay, honey,” she repeated. “You’re okay. You’re…”_

Logan jerked awake.

Early morning light filtered through the windows, casting the room in a soft, gray light. There was a stillness in the air unlike any other. Three sets of steady breathing combined with the rhythmic crashing of waves, gradually lulling his heartbeat away from its thunderous pounding; he lay silently and stared at the blurry ceiling, slowly letting reality make its way back to him.

On the back porch, a page turned. Logan blinked out of his trance.

He rolled over and felt the floor until he found his glasses before sitting up and glancing at the pile of limbs that were his teammates; Roman was halfway off of the other side of the mattresses, face smushed against the corner and wings laying on top of where Patton curled into Virgil. Virgil’s limbs splayed out and took up nearly all of the remaining blankets.

He was careful not to jostle the mattress too much as he stood, making his way towards the back porch. Cloudy skies and a gentle breeze greeted him before he even stepped foot outside. The deep gray ocean nearly caused him to retreat, but he forced himself forward until he could see who else was up so early.

Dr. Picani looked up from his book. A smile settled on his face as he lifted his coffee cup. “Good morning, Logan!” he quietly exclaimed. “Wasn’t expecting to see anyone up this early! Is everything alright?”

“Yes, everything is fine,” Logan said. “I just… Wasn’t able to sleep, I suppose.”

“Oh, I hate when that happens. All those wonderful dreams you could be having, but ya can’t ‘cause your mind just won’t stop racing! Just the worst,” he laughed. He took a sip of his coffee, and then his eyebrows rose. He scooted over on the wicker couch before hastily swallowing his coffee. “Here, come join me! There’s coffee on the counter, if you’d like some. It’s really quite peaceful out here!”

Logan blinked. “Are you sure? I don’t want to impose—”

“Nah, it’ll be fun! C’mon, I won’t bite.”

He watched him for a beat longer, and then he nodded and stepped back. “Very well. Allow me to get some coffee.”

“Sure, sure!” Dr. Picani waved him off and turned back to his book. Logan shook his head and headed in.

By the time he returned, maroon mug warming his hands, Dr. Picani had set down the book and gripped his own cup. He smiled at Logan again as he sat.

They sat in silence for a moment. A breeze ruffled their hair.

“Hey, Logan?” Dr. Picani shifted, turning to look at him. “D’ya mind if I ask you something?”

Logan tilted his head towards him. “No, go ahead.”

“How’ve you guys been doing lately?” he asked. “As a team, I mean. I’ve noticed that there’s been quite a bit of tension amongst you four these past couple of days, and I just want to make sure everything’s alright.”

“Oh. Um… Well, relatively speaking, there’s nothing wrong with any of us,” Logan replied. “Everyone’s in peak physical health, as far as I’m aware.”

Dr. Picani nodded. “But how about emotionally? Ya can’t forget about that.”

Running his finger around the lip of his mug, Logan paused. “…There has been… a fair amount of arguing lately,” he admitted. “Nothing we can’t handle, of course, it just seems that we need some time to work through it all.”

“Well, of course! You can’t expect things to just figure themselves out on their own in situations like these,” Dr. Picani said. “You’ve been talking it through with each other, though, right?”

“I… Don’t really know. These conflicts haven’t needed my involvement at any point, so I’ve been trying to stay out of it as best as I can,” Logan stated.

Letting out a hum, Dr. Picani sat back and stared into his coffee. Logan used the silence to his advantage and took a long drink of his.

After a moment, Dr. Picani leaned in and lowered his voice, casting a hesitant glance towards the door. “I’ve also gotta ask… Has Patton been doing alright lately? I’ve been rather worried about him since… Well, since he didn’t go home for break. I don’t need any details or anything, I just… Is he okay?”

“Um…”

Logan adjusted his glasses, turning his head away to avoid eye contact. A few images flashed through his mind— a group hug in the middle of the night on the docks, lightning bolts uncontrollably scattering through the dorm, Thamir in the middle of Vale just the other night –and his stomach flipped. He swallowed thickly and slowly shook his head.

“I… am under the impression that he isn’t doing as well as he’d like us to believe.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Logan watched Dr. Picani’s shoulders fall. He glanced up just quickly enough to see his lips pressed together and his eyebrows creased. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, he’s given us plenty of reason to believe that his home situation isn’t ideal, one of them being that he didn’t return during break,” Logan said. “He hasn’t willingly spoken much of it to Roman or I, but from what he’s told Virgil that he in turn told us…”

“It’s bad,” Dr. Picani finished.

Logan nodded. “He has these breakdowns, as well—usually, when he’s recovering is when Roman and I hear first-hand about his problems –but those are the only times we really see him open about his emotions. He seems to just bottle them up and up until…”

He took a deep breath, and then he steeled his nerves to look Dr. Picani in the eye.

“Dr. Picani, I think Patton might be autistic.”

He paused, coffee mug halfway to his mouth and eyebrows risen. Blinking, he lowered them both and tilted his head. “Oh?”

“Thamir, actually, was the one to point it out to me,” he continued, looking away. “I described to him one of the breakdowns that Patton had earlier in the semester, and he pointed out that it seemed to be very similar to an autistic meltdown of mine that he witnessed in the Forest of Forever Fall when we were there to collect samples of the Red Sap for Professor Peach. I’ve been paying attention to him more often ever since—well, it was only the other night that he pointed it out to me, but still –and I’ve noticed that he and I  _do_ have similar tendencies to one another.”

Dr. Picani frowned. “Like what?”

“Like— Like…”

Logan paused, staring down into his coffee as his mind raced. He adjusted his glasses before sucking in a breath.

“Like when he had his most recent breakdown, he mentioned afterwards that it was set off because the noise in the cafeteria was causing him physical pain,” he said. “And he stated that he has trouble taking naps, which I also struggle with, and is common in autism.”

“Well… Trouble sleeping isn’t always a sign that something is seriously wrong,” Dr. Picani quietly pointed out, “And sensory overload isn’t exclusive to autism. People with anxiety disorders get them, too.”

There was a beat.

“…Oh. Perhaps I… jumped to a conclusion,” Logan muttered.

Dr. Picani hummed and took a sip of his coffee. “It’s possible,” he said, “ _But_ , you probably know more on the subject than I do right now.”

Frowning, Logan looked at his shoulder. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you’ve been living with autism your whole life. You know the signs and effects that you deal with because they’re a part of you,” he said. “I’ve only had a couple of lectures on the subject. It wasn’t my concentration in school. Sure, when we get back to Beacon, I’ll probably help you out and do a bunch of research, but until then, I’d say you’re the closest thing to an expert we’ve got.”

Logan stared at him for a long moment. His mouth fell open, and he sucked in a breath. “Oh.”

“Mm-hm! Tell you what, why don’t you talk to him about it?” Dr. Picani suggested, gently bumping his mug against Logan’s shoulder. “Ask him some questions, see if you can’t find any more connections between the two of you. Who knows? You could be right!”

“I… suppose I could do that.”

“Great! In the meantime, I’ll hit the books and ask around for criterias and stuff. Maybe together, and if he gives us permission, we can figure it out and see if we can’t help him. Even if we’re wrong, it can’t hurt to do a little psychoanalysis!” he laughed.

Logan nodded, turning to look inside to where Patton lay. He tugged at his collar and shifted; similar to a cat, he stretched out his limbs before curling right back up into Virgil, burying his face in the other’s shirt. Turning back to face forward, Logan nodded a second time.

“That sounds ideal,” he said.

Dr. Picani grinned. “Great!”

A loud growl sounded, causing Logan to snap his head up and shoot to his feet; Dr. Picani simply giggled and shifted to the edge of his seat.

“Sorry, sorry! Guess I haven’t eaten anything yet today,” he explained. “How about we make some breakfast for everyone? Elliot gets this amazing jelly called Schnofter’s, and lemme tell ya, it is  _delicious_! Wanna give it a try?”

Logan rested his hand where his heart pounded against his chest, shutting his eyes as he took a deep breath. Without really thinking about it, he nodded, and Dr. Picani got to his feet and went inside.

When he opened his eyes, all they were drawn to was the deep gray ocean. Logan reached for his necklace before remembering it was buried deep in his back. He swallowed thickly, his chest feeling as empty as his hands.

Slowly, Logan let out a breath and went inside.


	11. From Dark Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s been four jam-packed days since Team PRVL’s job shadowing mission began. The exhaustion from the endless fighting is starting to get to them– and when the stakes are suddenly skyrocketing, it may cost them more than their grades.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warnings: Grimm death, body horror (for Grimm?), fighting, near drowning, violence, vomiting
> 
> The Behind the Scenes isn't done yet because I rushed to get this done by midnight on Friday, but I'll add the link once it's up. In case I forget, you can find it at youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com and just look up the behind the scenes tag.

“Patton, are you kidding me?!”

Patton flinched, just barely throwing his shield up in time to block the Death Stalker’s pincers from his face. He grunted as he pushed against the force; behind him, he heard someone growl and fire a few shots. A blur shot overhead a moment later, and the Grimm screeched and collapsed onto the forest floor.

Lowering his weapon, Patton turned away from Virgil before his glare could reach him. “I—Sorry.”

“You can’t just injure the Grimm and hope for the best!” Virgil snapped. He whirled around and shoved his pole into a Beowolf’s chest. “Just  _kill_ them!”

Roman let out a yell as he sliced through a Nevermore’s wings. “Virgil’s right, Padre! You can’t just leave the job unfinished!”

“What does it matter if they can’t hurt anyone?!” Patton shot back. “Death Stalkers are harmless without their stinger!”

“That is incredibly inaccurate,” Logan pointed out. “You saw it yourself; its pincers are just as dangerous.”

“And we’re  _not_  just talking about that stupid Death Stalker!” Virgil added. “It’s—”

“On your left!”

Virgil leapt out of the way just as a Boarbatusk dashed by; Roman flipped and dove, kicking it onto its back. Logan turned and fired a few shots into its stomach before throwing his weapon back into book form and whipping it at a Beowolf.

Patton bit down on his lip and let out a whimper. He turned and threw his shield, making a point to avoid eye contact with his teammates.

Before they knew it, the only thing left in the area was smoke and the foul stench of sulfur. There was a long moment of silence as the students caught their breath. Their backs were to each other; all eyes scanned the area for any remaining monsters.

When Virgil let out a growl, Patton couldn’t help but wince.

“I’m sorry.”

The words came out in a rush and against his will. He squeezed his eyes shut. Behind him, he heard boots scrape against the dirt.

“You know that people, like,  _die_ when we don’t do our jobs, right?” Virgil snapped. “Innocent people?”

“Virgil, stop. You’re only going to attract more Grimm,” Logan said.

“He’s right, though,” Roman huffed. “Patton, you can’t keep doing this! Someone is going to be seriously hurt if you don’t learn how to kill Grimm!”

“I said I was sorry—”

“Sorry isn’t  _good enough,_  Patton!”

The air fell still as Virgil’s scream rang in their ears. Patton clutched his shield until his knuckles turned white. His heart thundered in his chest.

A sigh from Logan broke the silence. “The best way to apologize is to alter one’s actions to better ensure that the same mistake will not repeat itself. As I said before, this is  _not_  the time or place to be discussing this, but they do have a point.”

Patton swallowed thickly, his neck aching as he stiffly stared at the ground. Their eyes bored into his back. It stung like a too-gentle touch, a tight grip with the wrong motivations, and it had his muscles freezing up and locking him in place.

With an immense effort, he lifted his lead tongue and pulled his mouth open. “I don’t want to hurt anyone,” he said.

“Neither do we. That’s exactly why we  _must_  kill the Grimm,” Roman stated. “If someone is harmed when it’s our job to protect them, then that is on our heads.”

“Yeah, and it’s not like they’re going to feel anything. They’re  _monsters._ They don’t have a soul, that’s why they don’t have aura,” Virgil added. “You had to have learned  _that_  in your stupid public school, right?”

“Oh,  _please,_  Sanctum Academy is hardly any better,” Roman snapped.

“Excuse me?!”

As the two broke out into an argument, Patton sucked in a deep breath and hesitantly turned to face his team. Roman and Virgil were practically nose to nose as they shouted, each gripping their weapons in their trembling fists. Logan stood a few feet away; he faced the forest, but his eyes were screwed shut, and he pinched the bridge of his nose.

The bags under all of their eyes could nearly be mistaken for simple shadows in the evening light. Patton let out a shaky sigh and wrapped his arms around himself.

“Um… Guys? I-I think it might be time to head back,” he said. “I’m sure Dr. Picani and Elliot are wondering what’s taking us so long. We shouldn’t keep them waiting.”

Logan dropped his hands against his thighs. “Patton is right. We were only supposed to come out here to fight that Nevermore; we don’t need to delay dinner any longer by attracting  _another_  array of Grimm.”

“We wouldn’t have had that attack in the first place if Roman hadn’t been such a showoff.”

Roman growled and glared at Virgil. “Oh, I swear…”

Before another word could be said, Logan turned on his heel and threw his hands in the air, walking off into the trees. “Please stop arguing. It is getting incredibly annoying.”

“Right, because you’re the expert…”

Patton stayed still, watching as Roman and Virgil followed after him in a tense silence. He waited until they were almost out of sight before he slowly turned his head to look at the area around him.

The last of the Grimm were almost gone. His eyes met the dim red of a Boarbatusk’s gaze before it dissolved into smoke.

His gut twisted.

Quietly, he let out a shaky breath and hurried after his team.

 

* * *

 

 

“ _Ohhh,_ gods.”

Roman flopped face first onto the mattresses, his sword hitting the wooden floor with a loud clatter. He groaned into the blankets as his wings drooped at his sides.

In the kitchen doorway, Dr. Picani poked his head around. “There you are!” he laughed. “Boy, we were startin’ to wonder what happened to ya! Did everything go alright?”

“Yeah, if by ‘alright’ you mean getting attacked by an extra fifteen or so Grimm, it went perfectly,” Virgil grumbled. He plunked down next to Roman, narrowly avoiding his hair; Roman simply grunted as the mattress settled.

“Oh, great gumdrops. No wonder you all look so exhausted,” he replied.

Logan nodded, gently placing his book next to his bag. “It has been a long three days. I would be more surprised if we weren’t feeling the effects by now.”

“At least it’s your last night!” Elliot hollered, their voice nearly drowned out when the microwave began to beep. “You get to go home and sleep as much as you want tomorrow! That’s gotta be a relief, right?”

The three were silent for a beat. Hesitantly, they all lifted their heads and shot a glance at each other.

“Uh… Right,” Virgil muttered. “A relief.”

Dr. Picani beamed, putting his hands on his hips. “Aw, and you all should be so proud of yourselves. You’ve been doing great!” He threw them a thumbs up before slipping back out of sight. “Dinner will be ready in a little bit, so why don’t you kids rest up while you’ve got the chance?”

With that, the group was left on their own again. Not a word was spoken for a long few moments, until Logan rummaged through his bag and pulled out a textbook. He climbed to his feet and adjusted his glasses, turning and walking out to the back porch.

The front door finally creaked shut as Patton sullenly hovered just in front of it. He placed his shield down and glanced up at Roman and Virgil; his gaze snapped away nearly immediately after making eye contact. As quietly as he could, he pulled off his shoes and tiptoed into the kitchen.

“Do you need any help?”

Roman let out a long sigh. He pulled his arms up to rest his chin and looked up at Virgil. “Do you feel as guilty as I do about having to leave so soon?” he softly asked.

Virgil pulled his knees up to his chest, nodding slowly. “I’d feel a lot better about it if we could at least stay long enough for another Hunter or something to make it here,” he whispered. “Or if we’d figured out what the hell is  _causing_  all this.”

“As would I. I…” Shutting his eyes, he let his shoulders fall as he turned his face away. “…I’ve always looked forward to being a licensed Huntsman, but only ever for the fame, or the fortune, or…” He sighed. “…Or the respect and attention I would gain. Growing up as a faunus  _and_  the youngest of a line of successful Hunters, it’s honestly rather hard to get either of those.”

Virgil snorted. “Well, that explains a lot.”

Roman ignored him. “But right now, I… I don’t want my license for any of that. I don’t  _care_  about any of that. All that I want is to ensure the safety of these people.”

He opened his eyes and glanced out of the window, scanning the dark, starry sky for any glowing red splotches. He thought of the little girl from a few days ago, wondered how she was doing, if she was safe, what would have happened to her if they hadn’t have been there that first day. A breath rushed out of him, and he swallowed thickly.

“I’m frightened for them,” he breathed.

Virgil’s stomach flipped. He looked back at Roman, but his gaze was still glued outside; he studied his face for a long moment before he sighed and turned away.

“…Yeah. I get it,” he said. “But… they made it this long without us. I’m sure they can hold their own until a Hunter gets here.”

Finally turning away, Roman looked up at him. “Do you think so?”

 _No._ “Of course.”

Roman nodded and rolled onto his side; his eyes drifted to the four scrolls laying by the outlet on the wall. “If we had any signal, I’d have half a mind to call my parents.”

Virgil was quiet for a long moment. “Yeah,” he whispered. “Yeah, me too.”

The porch door slammed open.

“There’s a Beowolf outside!”

“What?!”

“It’s  _in_  the village?!”

“ _Ugh_ , we just got back!”

Logan sprinted to his bag, snatching up Malgre Myosotis and moving towards the door. “It’s at the end of the street, heading in. We don’t have much time.”

As the other three rushed to their weapons, Dr. Picani hurried into sight. “Do you need me to come along?”

“It isn’t very big; I’m sure we can handle it on our own,” Logan replied, “We just need to go  _now_.”

“What if there are more? Didn’t you guys just run into a pack or something?” Elliot asked as they leaned over the counter.

Virgil and Roman sprinted out of the door, and Logan shook his head. “I didn’t see any others. We should be fine.”

Dr. Picani hummed and crossed his arms. “Well, if you’re sure… But if you kids aren’t back soon, I reserve my right to come find you. That was the deal when you asked to fight these things alone, remember?”

Logan nodded; as soon as Patton dashed past, he shut the door behind them and hurried to follow.

 

* * *

 

 

The moment the Beowolf was in sight, Virgil grabbed Sangria Salvia with both hands and raised it above his head; out of the corner of his eye, he saw Roman launch into the air and draw his sword. He dove and spun, blade held in front of him, but just before it made contact, the Grimm jumped back, and Roman crashed into the ground. He somersaulted and skidded, placing a hand on the ground, just as Virgil leapt forward and swung his pole. It swiped its paw and smacked the attack out of the way.

Logan’s book came flying in and wrapped around its torso, pinning its arms to its side as he yanked and launched himself in to kick it square in the chest and knock it to the ground. It rolled, taking Logan with it, until it was back on its feet. Logan managed to land on his own just behind it before turning and tightening the strap. The Beowolf tried to move towards the others; when it couldn’t, it let out a massive roar and yanked.

Virgil and Roman made eye contact and nodded. Each grabbed their weapon and held it out, launching themselves at the Beowolf’s feet; the passed each other as they stabbed the opposite foot into the ground.

At this moment, Patton came sprinting up, skidding to a stop as soon as he was close enough. He lifted his shield and aimed the barrels of the guns at its head.

Virgil watched as they made eye contact.

His lungs seized when Patton’s eyes widened.

At the last second, he aimed further down and fired a few rounds. The Beowolf roared and reared back as the bullets hit its chest; it only struggled harder at the pain. Patton let out a whimper and stumbled back a step or two.

“For the  _gods’_  sake, Patton!”

Virgil snapped his head in time to watch Roman rip his sword out of the ground. He spun around and crouched just underneath it before lifting his wings and beating them down  _hard._  His sword ripped through its torso and head, barely missing Logan’s weapon, as he launched into the air.

The Beowolf didn’t even have time to let out a final scream before it dissolved into smoke.

Roman dropped to the ground, nearly standing in its remains as he shut his eyes and let out a slow, shaking breath. He cast a glance back to Patton, who curled in on himself and slightly lifted his shield; turning back away, Roman rolled his eyes and sheathed his sword.

Virgil shot Patton a quick glance, too, before he could stop himself. He turned away before the disappointment could show on his face. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Logan doing the same, shaking his head.

Before he could see Patton’s reaction, Virgil turned his back to the scene. He stared up at the shattered moon for a long moment before slowly letting his gaze fall back down to the warehouse.

He froze.

The flash of red in the window ducked out of sight as soon as it appeared.

Cursing under his breath, Virgil snapped his pole in half and started to run. “There’s another in the warehouse!”

Behind him, he could hear the clacking of weapons and the pounding of footsteps. That was all the permission he needed to break into a sprint.

Virgil practically kicked the door down as soon as he was near enough, pausing only to hit the lights and scan the rows and rows of boxes and crates. Footsteps echoed from the far back of the room; he raised his gun and crept towards it. The others sprinted in behind him, but he quickly held up a hand and motioned for them to stay quiet.

He held his breath as he pressed on. Whatever Grimm was in the back had stopped moving, so he was relying solely on a gut feeling now. The window where he’d seen it wasn’t too far back; it couldn’t be far now. Just a couple more steps…

Pressing his back against a crate, he peered around the corner. He gripped his gun tight in his hands. There it was, just a sliver of that red he saw! He leaned forward just a bit more, and—

Virgil gasped.

The blonde woman whipped around, yanking the gun from her holster. He ducked out of sight just before she saw him, but he didn’t waste any time in bolting, nor did he bother with staying quiet this time.

As soon as he saw the others, he frantically waved them towards the exit.

“Get out, get out, go, go, go!” he hissed.

“What? What for?!” Roman whispered back.

A bullet whizzed past Virgil’s head; he yelped out a curse and whirled around, snapping his gun towards where the woman now stood at the end of the row. Behind him, he heard Patton gasp.

“It’s her!”

“What?” Logan asked. “Who is she?!”

Virgil fired a few shots before turning and shooting a frantic glare at him. “Don’t worry about it, just get the hell out of here!” he yelled.

Logan ignored the order, switching his book into pistol form before firing a few rounds at the woman. “Preposterous! If she’s a threat, we need to detain her!”

“Not  _we_ , Logan,  _you! You_ need to run!”

“Virgil, what in the world is going on?!” Roman yelped.

Before anything else could happen, the woman dashed forward and leapt towards Logan; Virgil tackled him to the ground just before she could grab him. He scrambled to his feet and snapped Sangria Salvia to its full length, standing protectively over him.

“Leave him alone!”

“’Fraid I can’t do that, son,” she drawled. “I’d suggest you step out of the way.”

Virgil grit his teeth. “I’m  _not_  letting you take him!”

“Virgil,” Logan said, “Explain what is happening.”

“Later! Just run!”

“I will not.”

Virgil whirled around to glare at him; before he could say anything, a rope whipped over his head and wrapped around Logan’s torso, pinning his arms to his sides. The woman yanked him towards her, and Virgil let out a yell.

He dashed over to Roman, snatched the sword out of his sheath, and dove, slicing the rope clean. The woman stumbled at the sudden lack of tension, and he used the opportunity to throw the sword to the side and launch his pole at her chest. She caught it just as her back hit a crate and held it in one hand as she whipped her gun out and fired. Virgil ducked and swung his foot at her; she easily caught it and used the momentum to throw him across the room. He smashed into the floor with a pained cry, but he did his best to roll to his feet regardless.

Roman let out a battle cry and leapt into the air, soaring towards the woman with a fist extended; she held up her free hand and grabbed it, pulling him up and over her head. Roman spun and swung down and kicked her in the back, but she did a somersault and slid across the concrete, stopping next to Patton. He reared back and swung his shield, but she sprinted forward before contact could be made, leaving him spinning uncontrollably for a moment. His cloak caught under his foot, and he toppled over.

Punches and punches echoed through the room as the woman and Roman engaged in rapid hand-to-hand combat; gradually, she was pushing him further and further back into the room, closer to Virgil with each step.

Virgil, however, was paying little attention. His eyes whipped around, scanning every little detail.

“Logan!” he cried.

As if on cue, there was another battle cry, and he snapped his head up to see Logan diving down from the top of one of the huge shelves. He whipped his book towards the woman, his grip tight on the strap, and Virgil’s fist clenched in preparation for a victory cheer that never came.

She grabbed the book without missing a beat.

The woman kicked Roman in the chest and yanked Logan to her, spinning him just enough to wrap him tight in his own weapon. Whipping her pistol out, she pointed it at Virgil.

Everyone froze.

As she panted, the woman narrowed her eyes at them all. “I suggest you all stay right where you are,” she growled. “This boy is coming with me.”

“Oh, like hell he—!”

She fired three shots at Roman’s feet, and he leapt back.

Virgil’s heart thundered in his chest as silence fell across the room again. His breathing began to pick up as his brain started to fly through his thoughts, there had to be something,  _something_  left to do, he couldn’t let her leave with him, this couldn’t be happening,  _this couldn’t be happening_ , there had to be something he was missing, something he wasn’t seeing, something—

_That’s it!_

“Patton, hit the lights!”

Immediately, Patton whirled around and smashed his shield into the light switch, encasing them all in darkness. Gunshots fired, and bullets whizzed by Virgil’s ears, but he leapt away unharmed. He started to run towards the moonlight streaming through the window, if only just to see what was closest to him.

He spared a glance outside. His stomach churned when he saw a drop straight to the ocean.

Swallowing thickly, he turned back to the darkness.

“Patton, Roman, go!” he screamed. “She can’t see you!”

“Patton, throw me my sword!”

Metal scraped against concrete, and then something whizzed through the air; Roman let out a battle cry before a sickening  _thwack!_  sounded. Logan let out a yelp, and something heavy hit the floor. Footsteps sprinted over to it as more punches sounded.

“Are you alright?!”

“I’m fine. Where are you?”

“I’m here.”

The woman let out a grunt before there was another crash to the floor. Gunfire sounded, and in the brief flashes of light, Virgil could see as she dodged the ice dust encasing the floor. Her boots clacked, and then she let out a scream.

Metal clattered to the ground as Roman yelped.

Virgil jumped when they appeared in the moonlight right in front of him.

They plowed into him. The window shattered as soon as they made contact.

Down they fell.

 

* * *

 

 

“ _No!_ ” Patton screamed.

Logan whirled around, his grip tight on his book. “What happened, what was that glass?!”

Giving Logan’s hand one last squeeze, Patton sprinted towards the window; the woman turned and lifted her pistol, and he skidded to a stop. Her eyes flicked around, and his heart skipped a beat every time they passed over him.

Outside, he heard Roman and Virgil yelling. The blood was roaring too loudly in his ears to understand them.

His fists combusted.

Letting out a scream, Patton hurled his shield at her stomach, knocking her back a step; it flipped back into his hands just in time for him to block the bullets she shot at him. He dove back behind the shelf and looked at Logan.

“They fell out of the window,” he stated. “I couldn’t get close enough to see if they’re alright!”

Bullets whizzed by, and Patton scrambled to cover Logan; he shoved him forward and around to the next aisle of crates. He grabbed onto his shoulders and, despite knowing he couldn’t see anything, looked him dead in the eye.

“Logan, what is happening?!” he hissed. “Why is she trying to take you?!”

Logan was silent. His mouth hung open, and his eyes flicked around in thought as his brow furrowed. Patton could feel him go stiff beneath his fingers.

“I…”

Movement caught Patton’s eye before Logan could say anything else, and he shoved him away just as the woman drove her foot into the floor between them. She swung a punch, and Patton threw up his shield, the resulting  _clang_ causing him to stumble and cover his ears. As she threw a kick, Patton forced himself to recover and slide under. He grabbed Logan by the wrist and dragged him past the broken glass and gunshots.

 

* * *

 

 

“No, no, no, no, no—!”

Just as Virgil was about to hit the water, a hand grabbed the edge of his chest plate and suspended him in the air; the wind rushed out of him, and it took him a second to remember to breathe. After a beat, he was thrown into the air, only for a pair of arms to catch him under his armpits.

“Are you alright?!” Roman asked.

Virgil snapped his gaze up to the warehouse; gunshots echoed through the broken window, sending a sharp pain through his chest. He squirmed, trying to get a better grip on his pole.

“I-I’m fine! We gotta get back in there!” he exclaimed.

For a long beat, Roman stared down at him; his breaths came in heavy, and his mouth was parted. He looked at the warehouse for an agonizingly long time, keeping completely still as they hovered above the waves.

Virgil shot a glare. “What are you waiting for?! We gotta go! Logan’s in trouble and we—”

“I’m sorry!”

He paused. “What?”

Roman’s eyes squeezed shut. “I’m… I’m sorry, Virgil. I’m sorry I made you be the villain, I’m sorry I didn’t apologize sooner, I’m sorry that I’m keeping us from doing our jobs right now but Virgil, I-I’m  _scared!_ ”

“Roman—”

“I don’t know what that woman wants from Logan, but she—she’s— I can’t beat her! Not by myself!”

“Then get us up there so Patton and Logan don’t have to try and—”

“Virgil, you have to use your semblance! Please!”

Tears dripped into Virgil’s hair, and he snapped his head up. Roman let out a sob; they dropped a little closer to the water.

“Please,” he whimpered, “Please, Virgil, you’re not a villain, I’m sorry, please…”

Virgil opened his mouth to respond, but no sound would form. All he could do was stare hopelessly up at his teammate. When Roman opened his eyes, the desperation and fear behind them made his chest seize.

A black and white tentacle shot out of the ocean.

Roman let out a scream as it wrapped around his legs and yanked him into the water.

 

* * *

 

 

Patton and Logan skidded across the floor as bullets hit the crates behind them. As soon as the gunfire stopped, Logan scrambled to climb to his feet; Patton grabbed his wrist and held him down.

“We have to get out of here,” he whispered.

Logan glared. “I am not running away. Not when Roman and Virgil are out there and possibly need help. What if she goes after them when we’re gone?”

“Logan, she’s after  _you!_  She doesn’t care about them!” Patton shot back.

More bullets hit the wall next to them; Patton threw up his shield and stared Logan down.

“We have to leave.”

“I will not!”

“Logan!”

Footsteps drew near. Patton looked up at the woman, pressing himself further into him in an attempt to shield him from any harm.

“Logan,  _please!”_

“ _Hey_!”

Everyone snapped their heads towards the door.

Standing in the moonlight, a man stood, his coat flapping in the wind. His fists were clenched, and his shoulders squared. He started to walk towards the group, hand reaching up into his breast pocket.

A pen clicked.

With a brilliant  _zap_ , a bright, blue beam of light revealed Dr. Picani’s glowering face. His teeth were bared as he stormed towards the woman; when he was only a couple of feet away, he lifted his arm, revealing the tiny, orange weapon in his hand.

“Leave my students alone,” he growled.

The woman’s eyes narrowed. She whipped her gun towards him and fired a few shots, and he dove out of the way; he skidded across the floor before leaping towards her and swinging his bright sword. She dodged, and the concrete exploded into ice.

Dr. Picani threw himself in front of Patton and Logan. “Alright, boys, show’s over. It’s time for you to leave.”

“With all due respect, Dr. Picani, I am not—”

“Yes, you  _are_.”

He flicked his wrist, and a pink shield formed on his arm just as the woman fired her gun; he threw it up just in time to deflect the bullets.

“Find Virgil and Roman and get back to Elliot’s house,” he ordered. “Tell them what’s going on. They can call you an airship back to Beacon and keep you safe until it gets here. I’ll hold her off while you go.”

Patton’s eyes widened. “But—”

“ _Now!”_

Patton and Logan glanced at each other, eyes wide and breathing heavy. Patton’s mouth snapped shut. His shield began to grow cold as his shoulders trembled.

Hesitantly, Logan grabbed his hand and pulled them towards the door. The sounds of explosions and bullets chased after them.

 

* * *

 

 

Virgil’s breaths came in whooping gasps the moment he surfaced. He coughed and hacked, doing his best to keep a grip on his pole as he frantically whipped around.

“Roman!” he screamed.  _“Roman!”_

Silence. He cursed under his breath before turning his search to the water.

Ice filled his chest when he saw big, glowing red eyes slowly sinking away. Bubbles rose to the surface just above it; a whimper ripped out of his throat before he could stop it.

“No, no, no, please, no…!”

Sucking in one last deep breath, Virgil dove into the dark, freezing waters around him.

In the distance, Virgil caught sight of Roman struggling to break free from the tentacle around his legs. His wings flapped and his cheeks puffed, but it wasn’t working; when he caught sight of Virgil, he let out a muffled yell and reached for him.

Virgil swam as fast as he could towards him, but the Grimm noticed him almost immediately and swiped its tentacles at him. He zigzagged up and down, left and right, any way he could to get around them, trying to get anywhere closer to him.

Roman was just inches out of his grip, he could reach him if he tried, he just had to get a little further…

A tentacle hit him in the stomach. The air rushed out of him as he was flung back towards the surface.

Virgil coughed and hacked the moment he surfaced for just a minute or two before he went back under.

He could barely see the Grimm at this point, but he wasn’t going to give up. He  _couldn’t_  give up.

Until he was about to drown, Virgil refused to resurface. His lungs ached like hell. He went back under again.

And again.

And again.

 

* * *

 

 

“There he is!”

Patton took off sprinting when he spotted Virgil swimming towards the beach, and from the sounds of it, Logan wasn’t far behind. They both dropped their weapons as they drew near the water; when they saw how sluggish Virgil’s movements were, they were quick to grab hold of him and help him to the ground. He weakly coughed as he struggled to hold himself up on his hands and knees.

“What happened?” Logan said. “Are you alright?”

Virgil shook his head. He heaved. Salt water hit the sand. Logan snapped his head up towards Patton.

“Lay him down,” he ordered. “Get him on his side.”

The two moved to grab his shoulders, but he resisted, shaking his head as he weakly swatted them away. He coughed again before sucking in a breath as best as he could.

“Roman,” he croaked.

They froze.

Patton snatched his shield and ran to the water, going in as deep as his knees as he searched the waves for their fourth.

“Virgil, what happened to him? Where is he?” Logan asked.

“Is he okay?” Patton yelled over his shoulder.

He looked back just as Virgil shook his head. After heaving and coughing a couple more times, another weak response sounded.

“C-Cephalo.”

Eyes widening, Logan looked at Patton in horror; his brow furrowed as he looked back.

“A what?” he said.

Logan slowly looked away. “It’s… a type of Grimm,” he informed. “It lives in deep waters. They’re rare, but the ones that have been found are incredibly dangerous. From what I understand, it usually takes two or three Hunters to take just one of them down…”

“I t-tried,” Virgil choked. “I tried.”

His fist hit the ground just before he collapsed to his side. Logan put a hand on his back and shut his eyes. And Patton…

Patton slowly looked to the water.

His hands began to shake as ice ran through his veins. He felt his throat close up. Thoughts began to race through his head, a whirlwind of panic and terror and potential grief, potential relief,  _potential to be forced home, never to be allowed to go back to Beacon, to PRVL, to safety and comfort—_

…Potential to watch a friend die and have it be on his head.

He squeezed his eyes shut.

“…You said they live in deep waters?”

Behind him, Logan let out a trembling breath. “Yes.”

He was quiet for a long moment, and then he opened his eyes. Terrified tears dripped down his cheeks as he lifted his hands to his collar.

If this was how he lost his freedom… It would be worth it.

With one last deep breath, Patton undid the clasp. The wind on his neck sent chills down his spine.

Moonlight glinted off of the scales as he dove into the water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com)
> 
> Thanks for everything, Monty.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoyed! Next chapter will be posted on Tumblr on Sunday, on AO3 Monday! Hope all you guys, gals, and nonbinary pals have a good week!


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